In 2008, SpaceX became the first private company to build an inexpensive rocket capable of reaching orbit. The years since have seen a transformation in who gets to play in space. National space agencies are still ambling along with their Moon and Mars missions, but headlines are mostly made by private companies with their cheap, frequent rocket launches and audacious plans for space colonisation. No longer can Tim Curry’s meme-making Premier Cherdenko of Red Alert 3 escape to space as “the one place that hasn’t been corrupted by capitalism”.
In ‘When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach’ (WH Allen, £22, ISBN 9780753557754) Ashlee Vance, a technology writer best known for his bestselling Elon Musk biography, tells the story of four of these companies – Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs and Rocket Lab – as they reach for the stars (or, at least, for low-Earth orbit).
The story starts with Pete Worden, who, as a...