?A colorful page-turner.? ?Walter Isaacson New York Times Book Review ?As important a book on
space as has ever been written.? ?Homer Hickam #1 New York Times bestselling author of Rocket
Boys The dramatic inside story of the historic flights that launched SpaceX?and Elon Musk?from
a shaky start-up into the world's leading-edge rocket company. SpaceX has enjoyed a miraculous
decade. Less than 20 years after its founding it boasts the largest constellation of
commercial satellites in orbit has pioneered reusable rockets and in 2020 became the first
private company to launch human beings into orbit. Half a century after the space race it is
private companies led by SpaceX standing alongside NASA pushing forward into the cosmos and
laying the foundation for our exploration of other worlds. But before it became one of the most
powerful players in the aerospace industry SpaceX was a fledgling start-up scrambling to
develop a single workable rocket before the money ran dry. The engineering challenge was
immense numerous other private companies had failed similar attempts. And even if SpaceX
succeeded they would then have to compete for government contracts with titans such as
Lockheed Martin and Boeing who had tens of thousands of employees and tens of billions of
dollars in annual revenue. SpaceX had fewer than 200 employees and the relative pittance of
$100 million in the bank. In Liftoff Eric Berger senior space editor at Ars Technica takes
readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four
launches of the Falcon 1 rocket he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace
pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo to the isolated Texas ranchland
where they performed engine tests to Kwajalein the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX
launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade enjoying
unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of
these efforts drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers
designers mechanics and executives including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk who founded the
company with the dream of one day settling Mars is the fuel that propels the book with his
daring vision for the future of space. Filled with never-before-told stories of SpaceX's
turbulent beginning Liftoff is a saga of cosmic proportions.
