Rocket Billionaires
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blue ribbon commission, 143–45
Lockheed, Boeing and Pratt & Whitney lobbying, 147–49
public-private partnership, 148
space funding issue, 164
O’Keefe, Sean, 101
Omelek island, 109. See also Kwajalein Atoll (Marshall Islands)
Falcon 1 launch aborted, 128
launchpad, 111
O’Neill, Gerard, 68
OneWeb, 231, 234
Orbcomm, 173, 216–18
orbital rockets. See also McDonnell Douglas
NASA space taxi program bids, 112–13
reusable (X-15), 16, 215–16
SpaceX challenges, 78, 107
Orbital Sciences Corporation, 59, 206–7, 228
Antares, 121, 206–7, 228
Antares explosion, 206–8
Cygnus, 121, 206, 208
NASA space taxi program, 121, 137
Orlando Sentinel, 142
P;
PayPal, 2, 18, 45, 66
Pegasus, 235
Peregrine vehicle, 242
Pettit, Donald, 149, 157–58, 164
PICA-X, 156
Planetary Resources, 56
Planetary Society, 124
Powell, Colin, 75
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, 140
Putin, Vladimir, 10, 181, 183, 185
Q;
Qualcomm, 51, 234
R;
Ramon, Ilan, 73
RAND Corporation, 38
Raptor engine, 243–44
Rasky, Dan, 156
RD-180 (Russian engine), 59, 182, 190
injunction on imports, 187–88
McCain bill banning imports, 190
Reaction Research Society, 51, 63
Reagan, Ronald, 19, 53
Red Mars (Robinson), 46
Ressi, Adeo, 59
reusable rockets, 195–96, 241, 250. See also Falcon 9; New Shepard
Richards, Bob, 242
Robert J. Collier Award, 218
Robinson, Kim Stanley, 46
Rocketdyne, 100, 131. See also Aerojet Rocketdyne
rocket industry
financing of, 52–53
government spending on, 52
in Los Angeles, 51
Rocketplane Kistler, 115–16, 137
financing of, 118–20
NASA space taxi program bid, 115–16, 118–21, 137
rocket technology, 54
aerospike engine, 62–63
high-pressure composite tank, 64
Rogers, Mike, 10
Rogozin, Dmitry, 10, 185, 187–88
Rohrabacher, Dana, 91
Roscosmos, 186, 223
Ross, Jerry, 162
Rumsfeld, Donald, 33
Rusch, Roger, 230
Russia, 187. See also Soyuz rocket
antagonism of, 254
invasion of Ukraine, 181–83
Mir, Russian space station, 53
Musk attempt to purchase ballistic missiles, 59–60
Musk trip, 105
rocket manufacture and sales, 32, 36, 58–61
role in US space program, 10, 58–59, 185, 223
Rutan, Burt, 6, 8, 16, 50, 53, 93–95, 210–12
Rwanda, fiber-optic internet infrastructure, 228–29
S;
San Martín, Miguel, 198
satellites
communications network, 2–3, 19, 174–75, 222, 245–46
internet spurs growth, 26
Ku-band satellite spectrum, 231–32
protectionist rules in US, 32
space traffic management, 233–34
telecommunication and television connection, 52
third world internet links, 229–32
and US Air Force, 9
Scaled Composites, 50, 93
explosion with nitrous oxide, 210–12
Sears, Michael, 188
Sercel, Joel, 126–27, 236, 240, 245–46
Serviss, Garrett, 46
SES, satellite television company, 52, 174–75, 229–30, 247
Seveneves (Stephenson), 69
Shaw, D. E., 26
Shelby, Richard, 145, 148–49, 184, 192
Shelton, Henry Hugh, 183, 186
Shepard, Alan, 12
Shotwell, Gwynne, 84, 115, 152–53
on Challenger disaster, 30
on EELV competition, 180
on explosions and failures, 205–6, 208
and Falcon 9, 10–11
on reusability pricing, 248
on Russian purchases, 10
sales for SpaceX, xiii, 66, 80–81, 130, 136, 158, 171–73
Siebold, Pete, 213
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), 159–60, 162, 252
Simpson, Larry, 4
SkyBridge, 27
Slayton, Deke, 52
Smith, Bob, 70, 237–39
Society of Women Engineers, 80
SoftBank, 234
SolarCity, Musk investment, 43
Sowers, George, 32, 34–36, 39, 190–91, 196, 238, 241, 244, 247
moon as the next Persian Gulf, 254
Soyuz rocket, 65, 79, 163, 193, 197, 223
Spacecom, 221–23. See also Amos-6
SpaceDev, NASA space taxi program bid, 113
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. See SpaceX
space plane, 6, 8. See also SpaceShipOne
Spaceship Company, the (TSC), 7
explosion, 210–11
White Knight Two, 211–12
SpaceShipOne, 5–7, 53, 93
physics and engineering of, 95–97
Rutan redesign of X-15, 94–96
success of, 97
SpaceShipTwo
VSS Enterprise explosion, 212–13
VSS Unity, 214–15
space shuttle
financial crisis, xii, 139
“payload specialists,” 53
Rockwell International builders, 13
Space Transportation System. See space shuttle
space travel, x. See also Challenger; Columbia
Bezos goal for human passengers, 245
Bezos symposia, 68–69
physics, experimentation in, 54–55
physics and engineering of, xiv, 72–73, 76–78, 88–90, 196–97
rocket fuel, 77, 241
space tourism, 126–27
SpaceX, x. See also CRS-7 rocket; Dragon spacecraft; Falcon 9; Grasshopper; Merlin rocket; Raptor engine
Air Force contract, 179–80
astronauts to ISS, 252
Big Falcon Rocket, 244–45, 251
Big Fucking Test Stand (BFTS), 88
Blue Origin competition, 160, 246–47
Cassiope satellite, 180
CCDEV competition and funding, 159–60, 162–64
company development and financing, 66–67, 70, 210, 227–28
floating launch pads, 201–2
funding for development, 39, 78, 82–84, 130–33
government relations, 80, 82
launch vehicle development, 63
Martian colonization plan, 49, 233
minimum viable product, 81
Musk investment, 43
and NASA, 13, 156, 209–10
NASA space taxi program, 113–14, 117, 130, 137
Obama visit to Kennedy Space Center, 146
“Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly” (RUD), 201–2
recruiting top engineers, 39, 117
retropropulsion and reusability, 196–202
satellite network proposal, 231–34
servicing the ISS, 41
SES-8, 180
small rocket, business plan for, 60–62, 171
small rocket schedule, 79
and Space Launch Center 39-A (SLC-39A), 169–70
success of, 174–76, 219–20
and ULA, 37–38
unveiling, 8
and US Air Force, 9, 176, 193
Stafford, Thomas, 96
Starbuck, Randy, 28
Star Wars. See Strategic Defense Initiativ
e (SDI)
Stennis Space Center, 88
Stephenson, Neal, 69
Stone, Brad, 67–68, 123
Stone, Dennis, 160
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), 82–83, 99–100, 253–54
Brilliant Pebbles, 99
prototype for rapid satellite launcher (DC-XA), 125
Svitek, Tomas, 56, 70, 122–25
T;
Telecom Technologies Inc., 6
Teledesic, 2–3, 27, 32, 230, 232
Tesla, Inc., 43
Thiel, Peter, 45, 131–32
Thompson, Chris, 66, 214
Thorn, Valin, 145
Thor rocket, 107
Tiangong-1 and 2, 223
Time, Person of the Year (Bezos), 4
Titan IV rocket, 25, 27–29, 222
Tobey, Brett, 191–92, 227
TransAstra, 241
Trump, Donald, 44
Trump administration, 244
Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin, 76–77, 83
Twitter, 132
Bezos announcement of New Shepard, 15
Bezos tweet: congrats on Falcon landing, 217–18
Bezos tweet: New Shepard reusable booster stage, 215
Musk barbs at Bezos’s New Shepard, 16
Musk tweet on ULA/Rocketdyne, 188
U;
United Launch Alliance (ULA), 8–9, 171. See also Atlas V; Boeing; Delta IV; Lockheed Martin; Vulcan
Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage (ACES), 190
Air Force contract, 179
Blue Origin partnership, 12, 191–93, 238
company transformation to compete, 190–91
Defense Department contracts, 9–10, 36–37, 79–80, 176–77, 180–81
financing of, 227
ISS servicing after Antares explosion, 208
joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, 34–35
US Air Force. See also Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program (EELV)
certification, 180, 183, 193
GPS development, 19
launch program, 28–29
revolving door jobs scandals, 188–89
SpaceX lawsuit, 186–90, 193
spy and communications satellites, 9
V;
Vandenberg Air Force Base, 107–9, 112, 170, 174
Van Horn, Texas, x, 4, 127
test stand, 169
Van Horn Advocate, 4
Vector Space, 235
vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), 15–16, 125–27, 217, 238–39
Virgin Galactic, 7–8, 97, 127, 210, 213–14, 234–35
crewed test flights, 252
Virgin Group, 5
Vulcan, 190–91
W;
Walker, Charlie, 53
Wallops Flight Facility (Virginia), 206
Wall Street Journal, 230, 234
War of the Worlds (Wells), 46
Washington Post, 29, 188
Wells, H. G., 46
White Sands Missile Range, 69
Whitesides, George, 56, 212
Wholley, Michael, 104
Williams, Sunita, 163
Wired, 207
Woods, David, 202–3
Worden, Pete, 83, 100, 125, 129
criticism of Falcon 1 procedures, 111–12
WorldVu, 231
Wyler, Greg, 228–35
X;
XCOR Aerospace, 87
Y;
Yeager, Chuck, 50
Yoshiyuki Ishijima, 201
Z;
Zip2, 26, 45
Zubrin, Robert, 45–46, 61
Zuckerberg, Mark, 222
About the Author
TIM FERNHOLZ is a reporter at Quartz, where he has covered the space industry since 2012. For Rocket Billionaires he obtained exclusive access to top executives at SpaceX, including Elon Musk himself, as well as at Blue Origin, NASA, Boeing, United Launch Alliance, Orbital ATK, and Virgin Galactic. Fernholz lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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