When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach [Hardcover]

An InstantNew York TimesBestseller

The inspiration for the HBO Original documentaryWild Wild Space, now streaming on Max

A momentous look at the private companies building a revolutionary new economy in space, from the New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk

InWhen the Heavens Went on Sale, Ashlee Vance illuminates our future and unveils the next big technology story of our time: welcome to the new space race and the Wild West of aerospace engineering, and its unprecedented impact on our lives.

With the launch of SpaceXs Falcon 1 rocket in 2008, Silicon Valley began to realize that the universe itself was open for business. Now, Vance tells the remarkable, unfolding story of this frenzied intergalactic land graba tale of high-stakes space entrepreneurshipby following four pioneering companiesAstra, Firefly, Planet Labs, and Rocket Labas they build new space systems and attempt to launch rockets and satellites into orbit by the thousands.

With the public fixated on the space tourism being driven by the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson, these new, scrappy companies arrived with a different set of goals: to make rocket and satellite launches fast and cheap, thereby opening Earths lower orbit for a new commercial space industry. Vance has had a front-row seat and singular access to this peculiar and unprecedented moment in history, and he chronicles it all in full color: the top-secret launch locations, communes, gun-toting bodyguards, drugs, espionage investigations, and multimillionaires guzzling booze to dull the pain as their fortunes disappear.

Through immersive and intimate reporting, 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 slS$