Rocket Billionaires

Featured on NPR and PBS's SciTech Now, and in Fast Company, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal The inside story of the new race to conquer space For the outsize personalities staking their fortunes on spaceships, the new race to explore space could be a dead end, a lucrative opportunity--or the key to humanity's survival. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos take center stage in this fast-paced narrative as they attempt to disrupt the space economy and feed their own egos. We meet a supporting cast of equally fascinating entrepreneurs, from the irrepressible British mogul Richard Branson to the satellite internet visionary Greg Wyler. Tim Fernholz's fly-on-the-wall reporting captures an industry in the midst of disruption. NASA seeks to preserve its ambitious space program, traditional aerospace firms like Boeing and Lockheed Martin scramble to adapt to new competitors, lobbyists tussle over public funds, and lawmakers try to prevent this new space race from sparking global conflict. Fernholz spins this high-stakes marathon into a riveting tale of rivalry and survival.