A momentous look at the private companies driving a revolutionary new economy in space from
the New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk With the launch of the Falcon 1 rocket in
2008 Elon Musk's SpaceX became the first private company to build a low-cost rocket that could
reach orbit. And that milestone carried major implications: Silicon Valley not NASA or nation
states was suddenly cemented as the epicenter of the new Space Age. Start-ups and the wealthy
investors behind them began to realize that the universe?ungoverned and infinite?was open for
business. Welcome to the Wild West of aerospace engineering. When the Heavens Went on Sale
tells the remarkable unfolding story of this frenzied intergalactic land grab. Through his
trademark immersive reporting Ashlee Vance follows four pioneering companies?Astra Firefly
Planet Labs and Rocket Lab?as they build new space systems and attempt to launch rockets and
satellites into orbit by the thousands. While the public fixated on the space tourism being
driven by Elon Musk Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson these new companies arrived with a
different set of goals: to make rocket and satellite launches fast and cheap thereby opening
Earth's lower orbit for business?and setting it up as the next playing field for humankind's
technological evolution where we can connect analyze and monitor everything on Earth. Vance
has had a front-row seat and singular access to this peculiar and unprecedented moment in
history. When the Heavens Went on Sale travels through private company headquarters labs and
top-secret launch locations around the world including California Texas Alaska New Zealand
Ukraine India and French Guiana. He chronicles it all in full color: the private jets
communes gun-toting bodyguards drugs espionage investigations and multimillionaires
guzzling booze to dull the pain as their fortunes disappear. With the most detailed and
intimate reporting of Vance's career When the Heavens Went on Sale reveals the spectacular
chaos of the new business of space and what happens when the idealistic ambitious minds of
Silicon Valley turn their unbridled vision toward the limitless expanse of the stars. This is
the most pressing and controversial technology story of our time a tale of fascinating
characters chasing unimaginable stakes as they race to space.
