When The Heavens Went On Sale

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

*An instant New York Times Bestseller*

A momentous look at the private companies driving the revolutionary new space race, from the 3-million copy, New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk

In 2008, Elon Musk's SpaceX became the first private company to build a low-cost rocket that could reach orbit. Suddenly Silicon Valley, not NASA, was the epicentre of the new Space Age. Start-ups and investors began to realise that the heavens - ungoverned and unregulated - were open for business.

When the Heavens Went on Sale tells the remarkable, unfolding story of this frenzied race to control access to outer space. Ashlee Vance follows four pioneering companies - Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs and Rocket Lab - as they attempt to launch thousands of low-cost rockets and satellites into orbit. While the space tourism ambitions of billionaires such as Bezos and Branson make headlines, these under-the-radar companies are striving to monetise Earth's lower orbit; to connect, analyse and monitor everything on Earth.

With unprecedented access to private company headquarters, labs and top-secret launch locations - from the US to New Zealand, Ukraine to India - Vance presents a gripping account of private jets, communes, gun-toting bodyguards, drugs, espionage investigations and multimillionaires guzzling booze as their fortunes disappear.

This is the most pressing and controversial technology story of our time, a tale of fascinating characters chasing unimaginable stakes. Welcome to the new Wild West above the clouds.

©2023 Ashlee Vance (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

  • An exuberant ride, happily hopping around the Pacific Rim from Kwajalein Atoll to California, from New Zealand to Kodiak Island, reveling in the do-it-yourself ethos of the new space business

    New York Times Book Review

  • The frenzied race by stargazing entrepreneurs to build a new economy in space is one of the most exciting tales of our time. Ashlee Vance, with his immersive reporting and exuberant writing, has captured the ambition and idealism of the colourful characters who are not only transforming our world but our heavens. It’s the next tech frontier, and Vance turns it into a thriller

    Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of STEVE JOBS

  • A new testament for New Space, and an eloquent, expertly-reported ode to the swaggering geniuses who are opening the final frontier

    Brad Stone, author of THE EVERYTHING STORE and AMAZON UNBOUND

  • Illuminating… For an insight into the people and culture driving the new space age, Mr Vance’s book is the place to start. After the wonder of the Moon landings, space somehow contrived to become boring. These days it is exciting again

    Economist

  • Exuberant

    Washington Post

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