When the Heavens Went on Sale

A momentous look at the private companies driving a revolutionary new economy in space,from the New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk With the launch of the Falcon 1 rocket in 2008Elon Musk’s SpaceX became the first private company to build a low-cost rocket that could reach orbit. And that milestone carried major implications: Silicon Valleynot NASA or nation stateswas suddenly cemented as the epicenter of the new Space Age. Start-ups and the wealthy investors behind them began to realize that the universe–ungoverned and infinite–was open for business. Welcome to the Wild West of aerospace engineering. When the Heavens Went on Sale tells the remarkableunfolding story of this frenzied intergalactic land grab. Through his trademark immersive reportingAshlee Vance follows four pioneering companies–AstraFireflyPlanet Labsand Rocket Lab–as they build new space systems and attempt to launch rockets and satellites into orbit by the thousands. While the public fixated on the space tourism being driven by Elon MuskJeff Bezosand Richard Bransonthese new companies arrived with a different set of goals: to make rocket and satellite launches fast and cheapthereby opening Earth’s lower orbit for business–and setting it up as the next playing field for humankind’s technological evolutionwhere we can connectanalyzeand monitor everything on Earth. Vance has had a front-row seat and singular access to this peculiar and unprecedented moment in history. When the Heavens Went on Sale travels through private company headquarterslabsand top-secret launch locations around the worldincluding CaliforniaTexasAlaskaNew ZealandUkraineIndiaand French Guiana. He chronicles it all in full color: the private jetscommunesgun-toting bodyguardsdrugsespionage investigationsand multimillionaires guzzling booze to dull the pain as their fortunes disappear. With the most detailed and intimate reporting of Vance’s careerWhen the Heavens Went on Sale reveals the spectacular chaos of the new business of spaceand what happens when the idealisticambitious minds of Silicon Valley turn their unbridled vision toward the limitless expanse of the stars. This is the most pressing and controversial technology story of our timea tale of fascinating characters chasing unimaginable stakes as they race to space.