BE-4 engine, 207–208
Beachey, Lincoln, 120
Beal, Andy, 27–32, 34, 158
Beal Aerospace, 30–34
Beal Bank, 31
Beal Conjecture, 28
Beattie, Trevor, 112–113
Bella, Charles “Cheater,” 11–13, 15–17
Bergman, Jules, 125
Bezos, Jackie, 62, 66, 192
Bezos, Jeff, 7
accessible space travel, 267
Amazon business strategy, 14–15, 72–73
author’s interview, 253–254
background and family, 62–65
Blue Origin start up, 74
commercial space flights, 4
competition over Launch Pad 39A, 181–184
construction of Blue Origin, 55–57
crew capsule
education at Princeton, 69
Explorers Club, 197–198
fascination with rockets and space, 21–24
first successful launch, 2–3
funding Blue Origin, 253–254
Goddard rocket, 145–147
helicopter crash, 11–14, 17–18
land acquisition, 26
landings, 3–4
lunar mission, 273–274
Mars development, 258–259
Musk’s rivalry with Bezos over orbital launch, 229–230, 233–235
net worth, 15, 25
passion for space, 65–67, 74–75, 253–256
patent for rocket recovery, 199–200
real estate acquisitions, 18–21
rocket development, 262–263
SEDS, 70–71
underwater Saturn V rocket recovery, 187–196
United Launch Alliance partnership, 208
unveiling Blue Origin, 24–26
See also Blue Origin
Bezos, MacKenzie, 21
Bezos, Mark, 192
Bezos, Miguel “Mike,” 62, 192
Big Fucking Rocket (BFR), 238–239, 272–273
Bigelow, Robert, 116, 249, 274
Binnie, Brian, 79–83, 86, 88, 91–96
Black Ice, 4, 268–269
Black Sky (documentary), 89
Blakey, Marion, 125
Blue Moon, 273–274
Blue Operations LLC, 5, 21
Blue Origin, 5–6
ambitions for passenger market, 257–261
BE-4 engine, 207–208
Bezos unveiling, 24–25
Bezos’s memorabilia collection, 251–252
Bezos’s startup of, 74
booster rocket trial, 1–2
competition over Launch Pad 39A, 181–184
construction of, 55–57
first test vehicle, 76–77
funding for, 253–254
Garver’s tour of, 169–170
goal of space development, 259–260
goals of, 74–75
Goddard rocket, 145–147
John Glenn’s view of, 262
land acquisition for, 18–21
launch capability, 261
lessening the secrecy over, 253
Musk’s rivalry with Bezos over orbital launch, 229–230
NASA bid, 179–180
New Shepard rocket test, 221–223
pad escape test, 179–180
passengers in space, 256–257
Personal Spaceflight Federation’s Valentine’s Day meeting, 116
secrecy surrounding Goddard test, 166–168
turtle mascot
ULA partnership, 208
“Very Big Brother” rocket, 223
Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane development, 269
See also Bezos, Jeff
Bluebonnet Ordnance Plant, Texas, 30, 34
Boeing, 6, 52–53, 139–140, 209. See also United Launch Alliance
Bolden, Charlie, 162, 180, 209
boost-back burn, 226
booster landings, 270–271
Borman, Frank, 257
Boyle, Alan, 234
Branson, Eva, 102–103
Branson, Richard, 5, 7, 265
Ansari X Prize entry, 92
character and personality, 233
commercial lunar travel, 110–111
commercial space flights, 4
miniature satellite industry, 249
Musk’s rivalry with Bezos over orbital launch, 230
passion for aviation, 102–104
promoting commercial space travel, 211–212
sending humans into orbit, 268
space as religion, 109–110
SpaceShipTwo crash, 214–215
training for space flight, 113
trans-Atlantic balloon flight, 101–104
Virgin Atlantic, 104–106
See also SpaceShipOne; SpaceShipTwo; Virgin Galactic
Breaux, John, 50
Brevard County Emergency Operations Center, 227
Broadwater, John, 192
Bruno, Tory, 207, 241
Brunson, Doyle, 28–29
bull whip, 22–23
Bush, George W., 133, 156–157
Cabana, Bob
California Institute of Technology (CalTech), 25
California Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 214–215
Cantrell, Jim, 34–35, 41
Cape Canaveral, 149–150, 171–173, 223, 225
Capone, Vince, 192–195
Caravan Club, 63
cargo route to space, 157–159, 238, 260–261
Carmack, John, 116, 126
Carpenter, Scott, 173
Cassini spacecraft, 121
Cernan, Eugene, 156–157, 161, 172, 275
Challenger II (Virgin Atlantic), 105–106
Challenger Space Shuttle, 117
Charon, 5, 76–77
chemical rockets, 24
chess set, zero gravity, 72
Citizens Against Government Waste, 49
citric acid, 169
Colbert, Stephen, 240
Cold War, 59–62, 171
Collins, Michael, 142, 172
colonization of space, O’Neill’s proposal for, 67–70
Columbia Space Shuttle, 41, 43, 96, 117
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program (COTS), 5, 133, 137–141, 156
Compaq, 36
Concannon, David, 188, 191, 194–195
Congress, US
Beal advocating for private space programs, 33
Musk’s demand for fairness in government contracting, 49–50
NASA’s increasing reliance on the private sector, 160–161
national security launches, 247–248
oversight and regulation of the commercial space industry, 124–126
SLS/Orion program, 244–245
Conrad, Joseph, 120
Conrad, Pete, 275
conspiracy theories: SpaceX explosion, 240
Constellation program, 139–140, 156–161, 244, 246
contracts, government
Blue Origin’s bid, 179–180
COTS award winners, 137–140
Defense satellite launch contracts, 52–54
Falcon program, 130–134
funding Blue Origin’s Goddard rocket, 167–168
Northrop Grumman-SpaceX rivalry, 51–52
Cooper, L. Gordon, 173
Corporation, 28–29
costcutting measures, 149–150, 153–154
Couluris, John, 155
Culbertson, Frank, 210
Cunningham, Walter, 257
Curiosity rover, 3
Cygnus spacecraft, 210
Davis, Steve, 135, 154, 176, 238
death
hazards of space flight, 119–121
Mike Melvill’s escape from, 120
SpaceShipOne explosion, 231–233
SpaceShipTwo explosion, 214
Defense, US Department of, 51
satellite programs after 9/11, 52–54
Soviets’ Sputnik launch, 59–60
weaponization of space fligh
t, 127–129
X-37B spaceplane, 163
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), 60, 127–132, 136
Delta Clipper Experimental (DC-X) rocket, 25
Delta II rocket, 40
Delta IV rocket, 152
Diamandis, Peter, 115–116
Dodson, Ronny, 17–18
Dragon spacecraft, 6, 144–145, 149, 166, 174–178, 209–210, 238, 270–271
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 59–60, 206
Ellis, Richard, 26
energy generation and consumption, 259–260
Enos (chimpanzee), 173
environmental issues
Bezos’s “Great Inversion” proposition, 258–260
satellite monitoring, 267–268
Space X land avoiding environmental regulations, 34
Ericson, Todd
Eutelsat, 262
The Everything Store (Stone), 21
expendable launch vehicles (ELVs), 199–200
Explorers Club, 196–198
explosions and crashes, 270
Apollo 1, 121
Falcon 1 rocket, 134–136
Falcon 9 rocket, 203–204, 217–220
SpaceShipOne, 82–84
SpaceShipTwo, 212–216
SpaceX, 239–241
Virgin Galactic ship, 230–232
F-1 engines. See Saturn V rocket
FALCON (Force Application and Launch from CONUS), 127–129
Falcon 1 rocket, 5
crash, 134–136
frugality in building, 154–156
Kwaj launch, 132–134
reusability, 43–44
successful test, 142–144
Washington ignoring, 42–43
Falcon 5 rocket, 44
Falcon 9 rocket, 6–7, 144
development of, 126
explosion, 203–204, 217–218
federal certification of, 247–248
first launch, 164–166
ISS delivery, 175–176
launch facility, 149
NASA’s commercial crew program, 209
Obama’s SpaceX visit, 163–164
perfect landing, 270–271
recycling old materials, 153
return to service, 225–230
Falcon Heavy, 174
Farini, Guillermo, 122–123
fatalities, 119
feather system (SpaceShipOne), 81, 90–91, 108, 211–212, 231
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 270
Falcon 9 landing approval, 227
Melvill’s “commercial astronaut” status, 91
National Air and Space Museum party, 42
regulating the emerging industry, 124–126
SpaceShipOne test flights, 96–97
federal funding of space exploration
Musk’s rocket technology research, 40–41
NASA and military stranglehold on the sector, 32–33
NASA’s human space program, 39
snubbing Musk’s SpaceX, 42
squeezing out the private sector, 33–34
See also NASA
Floyd, Jean, 268
Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum, Everett, Washington, 266
Ford, Harrison, 112, 231
Forrest, Ted, 28–29
Founders, 113
Founders Fund, 141
fuel design, 225
Gagarin, Yuri, 158, 173, 235
Garver, Lori, 156–157, 162, 169–170, 177, 179–180
Gass, Mike, 207
Gedmark, John, 115, 118–119
General Dynamics, 47
geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), 224–225
Gerstenmaier, Bill, 177
Gise, Lawrence Preston, 61–65, 128–129, 253
Glenn, John, 173, 226, 261–262
Global Positioning System (GPS), 129
globalsecurity.org, 137
Goddard, Robert, 145–146
Goddard rocket (Blue Origin), 5, 145–146, 166–168
Gorbachev, Mikhail, 107
Government Accountability Office (GAO), 48, 50
Grasshopper rocket (SpaceX), 224
Great Inversion, 258–260
Grey Goose vodka, 211–212
grid fins, 227
Griffin, Michael, 39–40, 133, 138, 140, 160
Grissom, Gus, 121
Grush, Loren, 243
Guadalajara, Mexico, 237–239
Guthrie, Julian, 87
Haise, Fred, 257
Halaby, Najeeb, 110
Haldeman, Joshua, 122–123
Haldeman, Wyn, 122–123
Hanks, Tom, 112
hard and deeply buried targets (HDBT), 128
Harman, Jennifer, 28
Hart, Christopher
Hawking, Stephen, 232
Heinlein Prize
Heister, Stephen, 250
Hellfire missiles, 24
Henderson, Bill, 67
Herzfeld, Charles, 60
The High Frontier (O’Neill), 67–68
Hillary, Edmund, 197
Holdren, 159
Holland, Ty, 11–18
Horkachuck, Michael, 156
Hornik, Morris, 71–72
Horowitz, Scott, 138
How to Make a Spaceship (Guthrie), 87
Hubble Space Telescope, 121
Hughes, Tim, 139, 142, 151, 247–248
Idea Man (Allen), 84
infrastructure: Bezos’s vision of space development, 260–261
Insprucker, John, 175–176
International Astronautical Congress, 237–239, 242, 245–246
International Space Station (ISS)
COTS award projects, 137
docking adapter technology, 46–47
Dragon spacecraft, 144–145, 174–178
Musk’s planned shuttles, 38–39
NASA requirements for shuttles, 270–271
NASA’s commercial crew program, 209–211
3-D printer for creating parts, 249
Internet
Amazon business strategy, 14–15
Musk’s entrepreneurialism, 35–36
space frontier similarities, 267
Interplanetary Transport System, 242
Irwin, James, 274
Jackson, C. D., 59
Johnson, Roy, 61
Jolie, Angelina, 112
Jorgensen, Ted, 62
Juncosa, Mark, 152
Jurvetson, Steve, 248
Kármán line, 221
Kelly, Michael, 125
Kelly, Scott, 219
Kennedy, John F., 117, 235
Kennedy Space Center, 84
Kistler Aerospace, 47–48, 50, 53, 137
Koenigsmann, Hans, 135, 142, 151
Korrell, Elizabeth, 11–13, 18–19
Kranz, Gene, 121, 257
Kutcher, Ashton, 112
Land Rover, 211–212
landing burn, 227
landings, rocket, 1–3
Falcon 9’s return to flight, 217–218, 225–227
Melvill’s test flight of SpaceShipOne, 87–91
New Shepard’s self-guiding system, 222–223
New Shepard’s test flight and landing, 221–223
orbital-class rockets, 224–225
SpaceShipOne’s crash, 82–83
SpaceShipOne’s fourth flight, 96
lasers, rocket propulsion with, 23
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (television program), 270
Lauer, Matt, 215
launch capability. See rocket technology
Launch Pad 14, 173
Launch Pad 39A, 6, 172–174, 178, 181–184, 223–224, 270–271
Lee, Gentry, 243
Lehman, Matthew, 182–183
Lembeck, Michael, 40
Letterman, David, 157
libertarianism, 118
Lindbergh, Charles, 116
Lindstrand, Per, 101–104
liquid nitrogen tank, 149�
��150
litigation
Alliance blocking SpaceX launches, 205–206
Bezos’s patent for rocket recovery, 199–200
Musk’s suit of NASA over contract bids, 48–49
Lockheed Martin, 52–53, 130–131, 244–245. See also United Launch Alliance
Lord Jim (Conrad), 120
Losing My Virginity (Branson), 101
Lovell, James, 161, 257
Lovelock, James, 113
low Earth orbit (LEO), 38, 267
lunar colonization. See moon colonization
lunar landing. See moon landing
Made In Space venture, 249
Magellan, Ferdinand, 119–120
Manchester by the Sea (film), 254
manned flight
Allen’s anxiety over, 91–92
risks and excitement of, 121–122
Scaled Composites plan, 85–86
See also Ansari X Prize; SpaceShipOne
Manning, Rob, 39–40
Mariner missions, 223
Mars colonization and missions, 7
Bezos’s commitment to travel, 258–259
dangers, 121
Falcon 9’s success as step towards, 229
landings, 3
Muskଁs agenda for, 38–41, 271–272
Musk’s concerns over asteroid collisions, 37–38
Musk’s International Astronautical Congress address, 237–239, 242, 245–246
Musk’s lunar base plan, 272–273
Musk’s reasons for founding of SpaceX, 123–124
Obama on deep space exploration, 161–162
SpaceX marketing its program, 246–248
Mars Oasis, 39–40
Mars Pathfinder, 40
Marshall Islands, 131
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, 48, 65–66
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 70
Mauldin, R. Daniel, 28
Max-Q, 218
McNeil, Wilfred, 61
media
Musk as cult figure, 204–206
Musk’s rivalry with Bezos over orbital launch, 233–235
Sex Pistols scandal, 105
See also Twitter
Melvill, Mike, 79–81, 83, 87–95, 120
Melvill, Sally, 89–92, 94
Mercury program, 84, 173, 226
Meyerson, Rob, 170, 180
Mica, John, 124–125
Mishap Investigation Board, 136
Mitchell, Edgar, 275
Montgomery, James, 110
moon colonization and missions
Bezos’s plan, 273–274
Musk’s plans for civilian passengers, 272–273
promoting commercial interest in, 109–113
moon landing, 255
George Mueller’s role in, 47
inspiring commercial moon travel, 110
Launch Pad 39A, 172
young Bezos’s interest in, 62–63
Mosdell, Brian, 149–153, 163, 165–166
Mount Washington, New Hampshire, 119
Mueller, George, 47
Mum’s the Word (Branson), 103
Museum of Pop Culture, Seattle, Washington, 84–85
Musk, Elon, 3–7
as cult figure, 204–207
Bezos’s conception for space travel, 258–259