Nov 14, 2023
Ashlee Vance visits Google to discuss his latest book “When the
Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space
Within Reach.”
With the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 1 rocket in 2008, Silicon Valley
began to realize that the universe itself was open for business.
Now, Ashlee Vance tells the remarkable, unfolding story of this
frenzied intergalactic land grab by following four pioneering
companies—Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs, and Rocket Lab—as they build
new space systems and attempt to launch rockets and satellites into
orbit by the thousands.
With the public fixated on space tourism being driven by the likes
of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson, these new, scrappy
companies arrived with a different set of goals: to make rocket and
satellite launches fast and cheap, thereby opening Earth’s lower
orbit for business. Through immersive and intimate reporting, this
book reveals the spectacular chaos of the new business of space,
and what happens when the idealistic, ambitious minds of Silicon
Valley turn their unbridled vision toward the limitless expanse of
the stars.
Visit YouTube.com/TalksAtGoogle to watch the video.