When the Heavens Went on Sale
The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach
Ecco, May 2023
From the bestselling author of ELON MUSK, which has sold millions of copies worldwide in nearly fifty languages, a momentous look at the private companies driving a revolutionary new economy in space.
With the launch of the Falcon 1 rocket in 2008, Elon 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 Valley, not NASA or nation states, was 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 remarkable, unfolding story of this frenzied intergalactic land grab.Through his trademark immersive reporting, Ashlee Vance follows four pioneering companies—Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs, and Rocket Lab—at multiple places around the globe as they build new space systems and attempt to launch rockets and satellites into orbit by the thousands. When the Heavens Went on Sale 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.
“Vance has delivered that rare book that educates and entertains while opening the reader up to a brand-new universe of wonderful characters and ideas. It’s non-fiction that reads like a novel.”
— Andy Weir, New York Times bestselling author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary
“The frenzied race by stargazing entrepreneurs to build a new economy in space is one of the most exciting tales of our time. Ashlee Vance, with his immersive reporting and exuberant writing, has captured the ambition and idealism of the colorful characters who are not only transforming our world but our heavens. It’s the next tech frontier, and Vance turns it into a thriller.”
— Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Steve Jobs and The Code Breaker