Rocket Billionaires

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race

By: Tim Fernholz

Narrated by: Erin Moon

Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

The inside story of the new race to conquer space, as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos spend billions of their own money to explore the final frontier

For the larger-than-life personalities now staking their fortunes on the development of rocket ships, the new race to explore space could be a dead end, a lucrative opportunity - or the key to humanity's salvation. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos take center stage in this fast-paced narrative as they attempt to disrupt the space economy, feed their own egos, and maybe even save the world. We also meet a supporting cast of equally fascinating entrepreneurs, from the irrepressible British mogul Richard Branson to satellite Internet visionary Greg Wyler. All are united in the profound conviction that commercial space transportation will transform our world for the better.

Tim Fernholz's fly-on-the-wall reporting captures an industry in the midst of disruption, as NASA seeks to preserve its ambitious space exploration 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. With privileged access to top executives at SpaceX, including Musk himself, as well as at Blue Origin, NASA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK, and Virgin Galactic, Fernholz spins this high-stakes marathon into a riveting tale of rivalry and survival.

Cover design by Brian Moore.

©2018 Tim Fernholz (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

An Excellent Read

US government should be busting up US defense contractors and giving the pieces to Elon.

Actually had some top-level engineering details..

.. seems to be rare amongst these type of books. This made up for the fact that the reader couldn't pronounce words like Lagos, Soyuz, or NASA.

very entertaining

this was an interesting account of events, tracking multiple events over last 30 years or so. Funny error at 26:35 into chapter 2 ... “faster than the sound of speed” 😂

Excellent summary of the new space era

I always wanted to hear the origin story of Spacex and Blue Origin. I throughly enjoyed reading this book. I have a renewed respect for all the men and women involved in this new industry.

informative and exciting

great story telling. a little slow during the politics explanation, but necessary to understand the background.

The race to the Moon and Mars is happening now!

This book is very captivating and accurately details how human beings will become a spacefaring species with a little help from entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

Pronounced NASA wrong the whole book...

it hurt every single time. it's a book about space buisness how come no one noticed this. embarrassing.

very good book, not favoring anyone.

I would say it was a great book in . Driving home the volitile business of space during this time. It makes you feel like the buainess is strapped with incrdible people playing the game of poker with the highest stakes. The comment that the rocket industrie has made more bankrupcies than rockets, was a serious consideration. not to mention Elon Musk and 6 years of development with no customers. vry good book

A great overview of the American space effort

While the title implies just tycoons, the story actually integrates the entire U.S. space effort!

Great Topic. Poor Performance?

This book is a great overview of the current state of commercial space in America. The author draws on a huge pool of supporting sources and paints a multifaceted landscape of the industry. Unfortunately, this particular performance is plagued with mispronunciation, word inversions and word omission. These performance issues are largely associated with basic technical terms and are fairly distracting.