Podcasts about liftoff elon musk

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Best podcasts about liftoff elon musk

Latest podcast episodes about liftoff elon musk

The John Batchelor Show
WEEK FOR MARS DREAMING AT STARBASE: 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&am

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later May 18, 2025 8:59


WEEK FOR MARS DREAMING AT STARBASE:   4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of spacE. 1940

The John Batchelor Show
WEEK FOR MARS DREAMING AT STARBASE: 1/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&am

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later May 18, 2025 10:24


WEEK FOR MARS DREAMING AT STARBASE:   1/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of spacE.

The John Batchelor Show
WEEK FOR MARS DREAMING AT STARBASE: 2/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&am

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later May 18, 2025 8:25


WEEK FOR MARS DREAMING AT STARBASE:   2/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of spacE. 1868 JULES VERNE 

The John Batchelor Show
WEEK FOR MARS DREAMING AT STARBASE: 3/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&am

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later May 18, 2025 11:39


WEEK FOR MARS DREAMING AT STARBASE:   3/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of spacE. 1872 JULES VERNE FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON

The John Batchelor Show
EVE OF STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY #8: 1 /4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2025 10:24


EVE OF STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY #8: 1 /4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of spacE. 1951

The John Batchelor Show
EVE OF STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY #8: 2 /4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2025 8:25


EVE OF STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY #8: 2 /4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of spacE. 1958

The John Batchelor Show
EVE OF STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY #8: 3 /4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2025 11:39


EVE OF STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY #8: 3 /4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of spacE. 1958

The John Batchelor Show
EVE OF STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY #8:: 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2025 8:59


EVE OF STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY #8::  4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of spacE. 1958

The John Batchelor Show
BLUE ORIGIN'S NEW GLENN ENTERS THE LISTS IN TIME FOR SPACEX STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY TEST 7: 1 /4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2025 10:24


BLUE ORIGIN'S NEW GLENN ENTERS THE LISTS IN TIME FOR SPACEX STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY TEST 7:  1 /4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1960 GALAXY MAGAZINE

The John Batchelor Show
BLUE ORIGIN'S NEW GLENN ENTERS THE LISTS IN TIME FOR SPACEX STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY TEST 7: 2/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2025 8:25


BLUE ORIGIN'S NEW GLENN ENTERS THE LISTS IN TIME FOR SPACEX STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY TEST 7:   2/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1958

The John Batchelor Show
BLUE ORIGIN'S NEW GLENN ENTERS THE LISTS IN TIME FOR SPACEX STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY TEST 7: 3/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2025 11:39


BLUE ORIGIN'S NEW GLENN ENTERS THE LISTS IN TIME FOR SPACEX STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY TEST 7:   3/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1953

The John Batchelor Show
BLUE ORIGIN'S NEW GLENN ENTERS THE LISTS IN TIME FOR SPACEX STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY TEST 7: 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2025 8:59


BLUE ORIGIN'S NEW GLENN ENTERS THE LISTS IN TIME FOR SPACEX STARSHIP/SUPERHEAVY TEST 7:   4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1951

Founders
#369 Elon Musk and The Early Days of SpaceX

Founders

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 1, 2024 63:59


What I learned from rereading Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger. ----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book----Episode Outline: —Numerous other entrepreneurs had tried playing at rocket science before, Musk well knew. He wanted to learn from their mistakes so as not to repeat them.—Elon announces that he wants to start his own rocket company and I do remember a lot of chuckling, some laughter, people saying things like, ‘Save your money kid, and go sit on the beach.'” The kid was not amused. If anything, the doubts expressed at this meeting, and by some of his confidants, energized him more.—Musk was a siren, calling brilliant young minds to SpaceX with an irresistible song. He offered an intoxicating brew of vision, charisma, audacious goals, resources.—When they needed something, he wrote the check. In meetings, he helped solve their most challenging technical problems. When the hour was late, he could often be found right there, beside them, working away.—The iterative approach begins with a goal and almost immediately leaps into concept designs, bench tests, and prototypes. The mantra with this approach is build and test early, find failures, and adapt. This is what SpaceX engineers and technicians did.—"Here was a man who was not interested in experts. He meets me, he thinks to himself, 'Here is a bright kid, let's employ him.' And he does. He risks little with the possibility of gaining much. It is *exactly* what I now do at DysonThis attitude to employment extended to [Jeremy] Fry's thinking in everything, including engineering. He did not, when an idea came to him, sit down and process it through pages of calculations; *he didn't argue it through with anyone; he just went out and built it.* When I came to him to say, 'I've had an idea,' he would offer no more advice than to say, 'You know where the workshop is, go and do it.'  'But we'll need to weld this thing,' I would protest.Well then, get a welder and weld it.' When I asked if we shouldn't talk to sure someone about, say, hydrodynamics, he would say, 'The lake is down there, the Land Rover is over there, take a plank of wood down to the lake, tow it behind a boat and look at what happens.' Now, this was not a modus operandi that I had encountered before. College had taught me to revere experts and expertise. Fry ridiculed all that; as far as he was concerned, *with enthusiasm and intelligence anything was possible.* It was mind-blowing. No research, no preliminary sketches. If it didn't work one way he would just try it another way, until it did. And as we proceeded I could see that we were getting on extremely quickly.  *The root principle was to do things your way.* It didn't matter how other people did it. It didn't matter if it could be done better.  As long as it works, and it is exciting, people will follow you."      — Against the Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson by James Dyson (Founders #300)—Elon personally interviewed the first 3,000 employees of SpaceX.—His people had to be brilliant. They had to be hardworking. And there could be no nonsense.—SpaceX operated at its own speed.—Pony Express ad: “Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.”—I've never met a man so laser focused on his vision for what he wanted. He's very intense, and he's intimidating as hell.—SpaceX had juice with the best students in space engineering. The freedom to innovate and resources to go fast summoned the best engineers in the land.—Talent wins over experience and an entrepreneurial culture over heritage.—He always made the most difficult decisions. He did not put off problems, but rather tackled the hardest ones first. And he had a vision for how aerospace could be done faster and for less money.—He didn't want to fail, but he wasn't afraid of it.—The speed SpaceX worked at relative to its peers could be jarring.—No job is beneath us.—No committees. No reports. Just done.—Most of all he channeled an intense force to move things forward. Elon wants to get shit done.—SpaceX likes to operate on its own terms and its own timeline.—90% of the book is SpaceX failing.—Elon spent much of the flight poring over books written about early rocket scientists and their efforts. He seemed intent to understand the mistakes they had made and learn from them.—SpaceX is in this for the long haul and, come hell or high water, we are going to make this work.—Who knows your customers? Find the person that knows your customers and then hire that person to sell your product to them.—No work about work, just work. Shotwell wrote a plan of action for sales. Musk took one look at it and told her that he did not care about plans. Just get on with the job. “I was like, oh, OK, this is refreshing. I don't have to write up a damn plan,” Shotwell recalled. Here was her first real taste of Musk's management style. Don't talk about doing things, just do things.—Within its first three years, SpaceX had sued three of its biggest rivals in the launch industry, gone against the Air Force with the proposed United Launch Alliance merger, and protested a NASA contract. Elon Musk was not walking on eggshells on the way to orbit. He was breaking a lot of eggs.—A Pegasus launch cost between $ 26 and $ 28 million. SpaceX's price was $6 million. Musk wanted it front and center on the company's website. This sort of transparency was radical at the time.----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Faster, Please! — The Podcast

On October 13, SpaceX and Elon Musk successfully launched their Starship rocket into low-Earth orbit. Then, in a milestone moment for space technology, they successfully captured the rocket's Super Heavy booster with “chopstick” arms on the launch tower upon reentry, marking the first time a booster was ever caught in mid-air.The achievement is a mind-blowing feat of human engineering — one that hasn't gotten nearly the recognition that it deserves. Today on Faster, Please! — The Podcast, I talk with must-read space journalist Eric Berger about the role of SpaceX in the new, 21st-century Space Race, the significance of the company's achievements, and our potential to become a spacefaring, inter-planetary species.Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Techica, and is the author of both Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days that Launched SpaceX and his most recent excellent book, Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age.In This Episode* Starship's big reentry (1:43)* Race (back) to the moon (8:54)* Why Starship? (11:48)* The Mars-shot (18:37)* Elon in the political area (22:10)* Understanding SpaceX (24:06)Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversationStarship's big reentry (1:43)James Pethokoukis: After the launch tower caught that booster stage of the rocket, I saw someone on Twitter a day later say, “Hey, do you guys remember over the weekend when SpaceX sent a Statue-of-Liberty-sized object to space and then caught it when it came back down? That was amazing!”So two things: First, as a space guy, what was your reaction? Two, beyond the sheer coolness of it, why was this an important thing to happen?It seemed inconceivable a few years ago, but now, all of a sudden, it's the future of rocketry, just like that.Eric Berger: Just from a space perspective, it's epic to see, to use your adjectives, the Statue of Liberty comparison. I mean, it's a small skyscraper, but they essentially launch that thing to space at thousands of miles per hour, then it slows down, it comes back right where it took off from, hovers, and it falls precisely into these two arms that are designed to catch it. The cool thing is that we'd never seen anything like that before. It seemed inconceivable a few years ago, but now, all of a sudden, it's the future of rocketry, just like that.the significance of this, of course, is SpaceX has shown that with the reusability of the Falcon 9 rocket, it can really change the economics of launch. This year they've launched 101 times. No country had ever done that many launches before in a year. They're going to launch 95 percent of all the mass into orbit this year with primarily the Falcon 9 Rocket, and all that's because the first stage is entirely reusable, they're flying them more than 20 times now, and so they're just taking that and scaling it.What was amazing about the tower catch this weekend was the fact that it really removes the need for landing legs. You may think, “Well, what's the big deal about that?” Well, there's a lot of mass involved with those landing legs: You need powerful actuators to drive them, you need hydraulic fluid, and that's a lot of dead mass in the vehicle. Also, it's not insignificant to transport the rocket from wherever it lands, either on a boat or on land, to the factory and to refurbish the rocket and launch again. Ideally, with this step, they're eliminating days from that process of reuse and ideally, in the future, they're literally going to be catching the rocket, setting it back on the launch mount and then potentially flying again.So it's not just the Starship, right? So for the other launches, is this is going to become the landing procedure?No, it will be just for Starship. They will continue to fly Falcon 9 as is. That's a mature product, everyone's pretty comfortable with that vehicle. But, look, other companies have tried different things. When Rocket Lab was trying to reuse its small Electron vehicle, its plan was to have the first stage come back under a parachute and then basically swoop in with a helicopter and catch it so that the rocket didn't fall into the ocean. That ended up not working.It seems very whimsical.Well, it made sense from an engineering standpoint, but it was a lot more difficult to snag the rocket than they ended up finding out. So, up until now, the only way to get a rocket back vertically was on a drone ship or landing straight up, and so this is a brand new thing, and it just creates more efficiencies in the launch system.What is the direction now, as far as launch costs and the continued decline of launch costs if this will be the new landing procedure for Starship?It's impossible to say that, of course. We can look to a Falcon 9 for an analog. SpaceX sales started out selling Falcon 9 for $60 million, it's upped that price to about $67 or $68 million — still the lowest-cost medium-lift launch vehicle in the world, but that's the price you or I or NASA would pay for a rocket. Internally, the estimate is that they're re-flying those vehicles for about $15 million. So, in effect, SpaceX has taken the cost of the lowest-price vehicle on the market and divided it by four, basically.Starship, of course, can lift much more payload to orbit than Falcon 9. By some measures, five to 10 times as much, eventually. And so if they can get the cost down, if they can make the first and second stage reusable, I think you're talking about them bringing the cost down potentially another order of magnitude, but they've got a lot of work to get there.I think the second most common comment I saw on social media — the first one being like, “This is amazing, I'm crying, this is so cool” — the second one is, “Why is NASA not using this Starship to get to the moon?” It seems like progress is being made quickly, and you mentioned the costs, I think people are just befuddled. It's a question you must get a lot.The reality is that if we want to go to the moon before 2030, we probably need to do it with a combination of NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Starship. It's a complicated answer, but the reality is that NASA, in conjunction with Congress, has basically, over the last quarter of a century, pivoted away from reusable launch vehicles, and at one point in the early 2000s, they were actually funding three different reusable launch vehicles. The most famous of those, of course, was the Space Shuttle. It stopped funding the Space Shuttle in 2011 and it went back to developing this large, expendable rocket called the Space Launch System. That was the tried and true pathway, and no one really had faith in what SpaceX is doing. And so now here we are, almost 15 years later, and SpaceX has gone out and proved it with the Falcon 9, the Falcon Heavy, and now Starship.The reality is that if we want to go to the moon before 2030, we probably need to do it with a combination of NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Starship. In 2021, NASA did select Starship as its lunar lander. So Starship is a critical part of the architecture. Probably the most challenging part, actually, is getting down to the lunar surface and then getting back up reliably. And so Starship plays a key role, and I just really think that it's inevitable that Starship and potentially Blue Origin's architecture will be how humans get to the moon and back, but we're kind of in an interim period right now.Is it just sort of too late to switch?Yeah, it is. It's too late to switch. You could conceive of scenarios in which humans launch in Crew Dragon, transfer over to a Starship, and then come back in Crew Dragon, but even then you've got some challenges. And the problem — problem is the wrong word, but one of the major issues with Starship is that it has no redundancy when you come back and land. It has got to nail the landing or people inside of it die. So you're going to want to see hundreds of Starship launches and many, many successful landings in a row before you put people on the vehicle. And to have the idea of launching humans from Earth to the moon at this point, we're pretty far from that. I would think a decade from now, at least, and by then China will be on the moon. And so it's really a matter of, do you want to sort of continue to delay the human return of the moon, or do you want to take the tools that you have now and make your best run for it?Race (back) to the moon (8:54)Since you brought it up, are we going to beat China to the moon with the SLS?Very much an open question. The SLS Rocket is basically ready. In its current form, it performed very well during Artemis I. It's obviously super expensive. You may have seen the Europa Clipper launch on Monday of this week, that launched on a Falcon Heavy. For almost a decade, Congress mandated NASA that it launched on the SLS rocket, and that would've cost 10 times as much. NASA paid about $200 million for the Clipper launch on Falcon Heavy, SLS would've been in excess of $2 billion, so it's a very expensive rocket, but it does work, it worked well during Artemis I. The best way we have right now, Jim, to get astronauts from Earth out to lunar orbit is SLS and the Orion deep spacecraft vehicle. That will change over time, but I think if we want to put humans on the moon this decade, that's probably the best way to do it.Is it going to be a close call? I don't want to overemphasize the competition aspect, but I guess I would like to see America do it first.It's going to be close. NASA's current date is 2026 for the Artemis III moon landing. There's no way that happens. I think 2028 is a realistic no-earlier-than date, and the reality is SpaceX has to make a lot of progress on Starship. What they did this past weekend was a great step. I think the key thing about the fact of this weekend's launch is that it was a success. There were no anomalies, there's going to be no investigation, so SpaceX is going to launch again. As long as they continue to have success, then they can start popping these off and get to some of the really key tests like the in-space propellant transfer tests, which they hope to do sometime next year.[W]hen you're on the moon, there's no launch tower, there's no launch crew, you've just got the astronauts inside Starship, and if that vehicle doesn't take off on the moon, the crew's going to die. So it's got to work.What Starship will do is it'll launch into low-earth orbit, and then it'll be refueled, and it'll go to the moon, and you need lots of launches to refuel it. And then really the key test, I think, is landing on the moon, because the South Pole is pretty craterous, you've got to have high confidence in where you land, and then the big challenge is getting back up to lunar orbit safely.Think about it: When you watch any rocket launch, you see this very detailed, very intricate launch tower with all these umbilicals, and all of these cables, and power, and telemetry, and stuff, and humans are looking at all this data, and if there's any problem, they abort, right? Well, when you're on the moon, there's no launch tower, there's no launch crew, you've just got the astronauts inside Starship, and if that vehicle doesn't take off on the moon, the crew's going to die. So it's got to work. And so that's really a big part of the challenge, as well, is getting all that to work. So I think 2028, for all that to come together, is a realistic no-earlier-than date, and China's pretty consistently said 2030, and they're starting to show off some hardware, they recently demonstrated that suggests they have a chance to make 2030.On sale everywhere The Conservative Futurist: How To Create the Sci-Fi World We Were PromisedWhy Starship? (11:48)What is the commercial case for Starship, assuming that these next launches continue to go off well? What is it supposed to be doing here on Earth and in Earth orbit?The next big race is to deliver internet, not to a dish that you set up, but actually to your mobile phone. It's called direct-to-cell, and you need much bigger satellites for this. And so SpaceX needs the Starship to launch these satellites, so that will really be the commercial use case for Starship in the near term.Its primary function, and I think the most important function for SpaceX in the near term, is launching these much larger Starlink satellites. I think it's been pretty well proven that there's a large demand for broadband internet from low-earth orbit. Starlink has now up to four million customers and they're actually signing almost at an exponential rate. Then growth, the business is profitable. So that's been super impressive. The next big race is to deliver internet, not to a dish that you set up, but actually to your mobile phone. It's called direct-to-cell, and you need much bigger satellites for this. So SpaceX needs the Starship to launch these satellites, so that will really be the commercial use case for Starship in the near term.I think once the vehicle starts flying reliably, we're going to see where the commercial customers go because we've never really been in a launch environment where you're not really constrained by mass and, more importantly, by volume. You can just build bigger, less-efficient things. Instead of hyper-managing your satellite to be small, and light, and compact, you can kind of make trades where maybe you have a lower-cost vehicle that's bigger. The capability of Starship with its voluminous payload fairing and being able to lift a hundred or more tons to low-earth orbit for low cost — entirely new regime. And so I think it's a case of Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come,” and in the near term, Starship will be the business case, and longer-term we'll see some unique opportunities.You've been covering this for quite a while, documenting, books, including your most recent book. Really an amazing ride as a space journalist for you here.I've been covering space now for two decades, and really with a focus on commercial space over the last decade because I think that's where a lot of the excitement and innovation is coming from. But the reality is that you've got this whole ecosystem of companies, but the 800-pound gorilla is SpaceX. They're the company that has consistently had success. They are the only provider of crew transportation services for NASA, still, even five years after their initial success, and they're the only provider right now that's launching cargo missions to the space station. They've got huge Starlink satellites, constellation. As a journalist, you really want to understand the biggest, most dominating force in the industry, and that's clearly SpaceX, and so that's why I've chosen to dedicate a lot of time to really understand where they started out and how they got to where they are, which is at the top of the heap.The story that you lay out in your book, which came out last month — Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age — to me, it's still a story people mostly don't know, and one that I think a lot of non-space reporters don't understand. What are some common misunderstandings that you come across that make you feel like you need to tell this story?I think, until recently, one of the things that people might say about SpaceX is, “Well, what's the big deal? NASA's launched humans to orbit in the past, NASA's launched cargo, they had a reusable space vehicle in the Space Shuttle.” What's different is that SpaceX is doing this at scale, and they're building for a long-term plan that is sustainable.I'll give you an example: The Space Shuttle was reusable. Everything was reusable except the external tank. However, you needed a standing army of thousands of people to pour over the Space Shuttle after it came back from space to make sure that all of its tiles and every piece of equipment was safe. Now, when it was originally sold to Congress back in the 1970s, the program manager for the space shuttle, George Mueller said that the goal was to get the cost of payload-to-orbit for the Space Shuttle down to $25 a pound, which sounded great because then they were saying dozens of people could fly on the vehicle at a time. Well, of course, at the end of the day, it only ever flew at a maximum of seven people, and the cost of payload-to-orbit was $25,000. So yes, it was reusable, but it was the kind of thing that was super expensive and you couldn't fly very often. You could do limited things.It's really the first vehicle we ever developed to go to Mars. SpaceX is doing some of the same things that NASA did, but it's doing them better, faster, and a lot cheaper.SpaceX is proposing kind of an order-of-magnitude change. We went to the moon in the 1960s with the Lunar Module, and everyone remembers it carried two astronauts down to the lunar surface. And that whole thing launched on a giant stack, the Saturn V rocket. So if you were to take the Lunar Module and replace the astronauts and just use it to deliver cargo to the moon, it could take five tons down to the lunar surface. Starship, in a reusable mode, can take a hundred tons. If you send an expendable version of Starship, it's 200 tons. And oh, by the way, even if you're not bringing that Starship back, you're getting the whole first stage back anyway.And so that's really the promise here, is you're building a sustainable system in space where it doesn't cost you $6 billion to go to the moon, it costs you half a billion dollars or to go to the moon, and you can then go on and do other things, you can fill your Starship up with methane repellent and go further. It's really the first vehicle we ever developed to go to Mars. SpaceX is doing some of the same things that NASA did, but it's doing them better, faster, and a lot cheaper.That $25-a-pound number you gave for Space Shuttle, where are we with SpaceX? Where is SpaceX, or where are they and what's their goal in that context?They're getting down in a couple of thousand dollars a pound with a Falcon 9, and the idea is, potentially, with Starship, you get down to hundreds of dollars a pound or less. They have a big challenge too, right? They're using tiles on Starship as well. They showed some of them off during the webcast this weekend, and I think we have yet to have any kind of information on how reusable, or how rapidly reusable Starship will be, and we'll have to see.The Mars-shot (18:37)To the extent the public understands this company — this is my understanding — the point here is to build Starship, to further this satellite business, and then that satellite business will fund the eventual Mars mission and the Mars colonization. I think that's the public perception of what is happening with this business. How accurate is that? Is that how you look at it? I mean, that's how I look at it from my uninformed or less-informed view, but is that really what we're talking about here?Yeah, fundamentally, I think that is accurate. There is no business case right now to go to Mars. AT&T is not going to pay $5 billion to put an AT&T logo on a Starship and send a crew to Mars. There are no resources right now that we really can conceive of on Mars that would be profitable for humans to go get and bring back to Earth. So then the question is: How do you pay for it?Financially, the business case for Mars is not entirely clear, so you've got to figure out some way to pay for it. That was one reason why Elon Musk ultimately went with Starlink. That would pay for the Mars vision.Even when settlers went to the New World in the 1500s, 1600s, in United States, they were exporting tobacco and other products back to Europe, and there's no tobacco that we know of on Mars, right? Financially, the business case for Mars is not entirely clear, so you've got to figure out some way to pay for it. That was one reason why Elon Musk ultimately went with Starlink. That would pay for the Mars vision.I think that's still fundamentally the case. It's effectively going to be paying for the entire development of Starship, and then if it becomes highly profitable, SpaceX is not a public company, so they can take those revenues and do whatever they want with them, and Elon has said again and again that his vision is to settle Mars, and he's building the rockets to do it, and he's trying to find the funding through Starlink to accomplish it. That is the vision. We don't know how it's all going to play out, but I think you're fundamentally correct with that.I think when he mentions Mars, there are some people that just give it a roll of the eye. It just sounds too science fictional, despite the progress being made toward accomplishing that. It sounds like you do not roll your eyes at that.Well, it's interesting. He first really talked publicly about this in 2016, eight years ago, back when there was no Starship, back when they just were coming off their second Falcon 9 failure in about a year, and you kind of did roll your eyes at it then . . . And then they got the Falcon 9 flying and they started re-flying it and re-flying it. They did Falcon Heavy, and then they started building Starship hardware, and then they started launching Starship, and now they're starting to land Starship, and this is real hardware.And yes, to be clear, they have a long, long way to go and a lot of technical challenges to overcome, and you need more than just a rocket in a spaceship to get to Mars, you need a lot of other stuff, too: biological, regulatory, there's a lot of work to go, but they are putting down the railroad tracks that will eventually open that up to settlement.So I would not roll my eyes. This is certainly the only credible chance, I think, for humans to go to Mars in our lifetimes, and if those early missions are successful, you could envision settlements being built there.Elon in the political arena (22:10)Given SpaceX's accomplishments and their lead, is that company politics-proof? Obviously there's always going to be controversy about Elon, and Twitter, and who he gives money to, and things he says, but does any of that really matter for SpaceX?I think it does. We've already seen a couple examples of it, especially with Elon's very public entree into presidential politics over the last several months. I think that does matter. In his fight with Brazil over what he termed as free speech, they were confiscating Starlink, and so they were trying to shut Starlink down in their country, and that directly affects SpaceX. In California, over the last week we have seen a commission vote to try to limit the number of launches Falcon 9 launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base, and they clearly did that because they were uncomfortable with Elon's behavior publicly. So yeah, this is going to bleed over.Now, in the near term, there will be limited impacts because the US Department of Defense clearly needs SpaceX rockets. They need SpaceX's Starlink, they use a branded version of it called Starshield for military communications. The launch and Starlink capabilities are essential for the military. NASA is even more reliant on SpaceX for the International Space Station and beyond; the entire moon program runs through Starship, so it's not going to change in the near term, but longer term you could see this having impacts, and it's not clear to me exactly what those would be — I don't think you could really nationalize SpaceX, and I think if you did try to nationalize SpaceX, you would sort of destroy its magic, but I do think there will ultimately be consequences for the Elon's political activity.Understanding SpaceX (24:06)About Reentry, is there a particular story in there that you think just really encapsulates, if you want to understand SpaceX, and what it's doing, and where it's come from, this story kind of gets at it?The point of the book was to tell the story behind the story. A lot of people knew, generally, what SpaceX has accomplished over the last decade, or the last 15 years, but this really takes you behind the scenes and tells the stories of the people who actually did it.It's a company that's moving so fast forward that, like I said, there are all these challenges they're facing and they're just tackling them one-by-one as they go along.I think one of the best stories of the book is just how they were making this up as they went along. The very first time they were going to try to land on the barge was in January of 2015, the drone ship landing, and the night before that barge was going to set out to sea, the guy who had developed the barge realized that, wait a minute, if we come back with a rocket this week, we have nowhere to put it in the port of Jacksonville, because they were staging out of Jacksonville at the time. And there had been this whole discussion at SpaceX about where to put these pedestals, but no one had actually done it. That night, he and another engineer stayed up all night drinking red wine and CADing out designs for the pedestals, and they met the concrete pores the next morning and just built these pedestals within 24 hours. It's a company that's moving so fast forward that, like I said, there are all these challenges they're facing and they're just tackling them one-by-one as they go along.Elon has spoken about there's sort of this window of opportunity open for space. In the United States, at least, it was open and then it kind of closed. We stopped leaving Earth orbit for a while, we couldn't even get our people into Earth orbit; we had to use another country's rockets.Is this window — whether for space commerce, space exploration — is it sort of permanently open? Are we beyond the point where things can close — because satellites are so important, and because of geopolitics, that window is open and it's staying open for us to go through.I think he's talking about the window for settlement of Mars and making humans a multi-planetary species. And when he talks about the window closing, I think he means a lot of different things: One, the era of cheaper money could end — and that clearly did happen, right? We've seen interest rates go way up and it's been much more difficult to raise money, although SpaceX has been able to still do that because of their success. I think he's thinking about his own mortality. I believe he's thinking about a major global war that would focus all of our technological efforts here on planet Earth trying to destroy one another. I think he's thinking about nuclear weapons — just all the things that could bring human progress to a screeching halt, and he's saying, “Look, the window may be 100 years or it may be 20 years.” So he's like, “We should seize the opportunity right now when we have it.”Faster, Please! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Micro Reads▶ Economics* Larry Summers on the Economics of AI - Conversable Economist* Landing Softly Is Just the Beginning - San Francisco Fed* More Babies Aren't the Only Solution to Falling Birthrates - NYT Opinion* Generative AI at work: Survey evidence from three Central Banks - SSRN▶ Business* Nvidia Chief Makes Case for AI-First Companies - WSJ* Apple Intelligence Isn't Very Smart Yet—and Apple's OK With That - WSJ* Andreessen Horowitz Backs Infinitus to Bring AI to Medical Calls - Bberg* Breaking Up Google Is a Fool's Game - WSJ Opinion▶ Policy/Politics* The US is the world's science superpower — but for how long? - Nature* Can A.I. Be Blamed for a Teen's Suicide? - NYT* Former OpenAI Researcher Says Company Broke Copyright Law - NYT* The tragedy of a 50-50 America - FT Opinion* Both Harris and Trump pose problems for U.S. energy producers. - AEI* Why Harris and Trump Are Pandering to Crypto Plutocrats - NYT Opinion* Trump's Tariffs and Economic Risk - WSJ Opinion* China asks: what is an e-bike? - FT Opinion* This Startup Shows Why the U.S. CHIPS Act Is Needed - Spectrum▶ AI/Digital* Big frontier AI systems will emerge from global, distributed efforts, not just big tech: Meta's Yann LeCun - Techcircle* Does ChatGPT Have a Poetic Style? - arXiv▶ Biotech/Health* Danes to Use New Nvidia AI Supercomputer for Drug Discovery - Bberg▶ Clean Energy/Climate* Averting Climate Catastrophe Requires Economic Growth - PS* The Energy Transition We Really Should Be Focusing On - RealClearScience* To Fight Climate Change, Clean Up Carbon Markets - Bberg Opinion* A Mexican Electric Car? Only If Private Firms Lead the Way - Bberg Opinion▶ Robotics/AVs* Crop-spraying robot is designed to reduce emissions and use less herbicide - Atlas▶ Space/Transportation* Beetlejuice, Betelgeuse, Betelbuddy? Astronomers Find Something Unexpected Orbiting Infamous “Doomed Star” - Debrief▶ Up Wing/Down Wing* Meet Hollywood's AI Doomsayer: Joseph Gordon-Levitt - WSJ* Here's What the Regenerative Cities of Tomorrow Could Look Like - Wired* Archimedes Rediscovered: Technology and Ancient History - JSTOR Daily* Energy expert Vaclav Smil on how to feed the world without trashing it - NS▶ Substacks/Newsletters* Yes, You're Still Imagining a Migrant Crime Spree - Alex Nowrasteh's Immigration Insights and Other Deep Dives* How long can we sustain economic growth? - Noahpinion* What is Anthropic's AI Computer Use? - AI Supremacy* An AI intern in your pocket - Exponential View* Industrial Policy's Inescapable Uncertainty Problem - The Dispatch* NEPA Nightmares IV: Tule Wind - Breakthrough Journal* When you give a Claude a mouse - One Useful Thing* Larry Summers on the Economics of AI - Conversable EconomistFaster, Please! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fasterplease.substack.com/subscribe

The John Batchelor Show
MUSK AT BUTLER PA IS RISK ON: 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 6, 2024 8:59


MUSK AT BUTLER PA IS RISK ON: 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1951

The John Batchelor Show
MUSK AT BUTLER PA IS RISK ON: 3/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 6, 2024 11:39


MUSK AT BUTLER PA IS RISK ON: 3/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. JUNE 1951 GALAXY

The John Batchelor Show
MUSK AT BUTLER PA IS RISK ON: 2/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 6, 2024 8:25


MUSK AT BUTLER PA IS RISK ON: 2/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1955 SCIENCE FICTION QUARTERLY

The John Batchelor Show
MUSK AT BUTLER PA IS RISK ON: 1/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 6, 2024 10:24


MUSK AT BUTLER PA IS RISK ON: 1/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1936 ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO

Off-Nominal
167 - Bechtold (with Eric Berger)

Off-Nominal

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 19, 2024 62:06


Jake and Anthony are joined by Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica and author of Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX, to talk about his newest book, Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age.TopicsOff-Nominal - YouTubeEpisode 167 - Bechtold (with Eric Berger) - YouTubeReentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age | West Houston's Neighborhood BookshopReentry by Eric Berger - Audiobook - Audible.comReentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age Kindle EditionFor the first time in more than three years, SpaceX misses a booster landing | Ars TechnicaFollow EricEric Berger | Ars TechnicaEric Berger (@SciGuySpace) / XFollow Off-NominalSubscribe to the show! - Off-NominalSupport the show, join the DiscordOff-Nominal (@offnom) / TwitterOff-Nominal (@offnom@spacey.space) - Spacey SpaceFollow JakeWeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to MarsWeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | TwitterJake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | TwitterJake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit@spacey.space) - Spacey SpaceFollow AnthonyMain Engine Cut OffMain Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | TwitterMain Engine Cut Off (@meco@spacey.space) - Spacey SpaceAnthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | TwitterAnthony Colangelo (@acolangelo@jawns.club) - jawns.club

The John Batchelor Show
MONETIZING LEO IS THE GENIUS. 1/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2024 10:24


MONETIZING LEO IS THE GENIUS. 1/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1940

The John Batchelor Show
MONETIZING LEO IS THE GENIUS. 2/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2024 8:25


MONETIZING LEO IS THE GENIUS. 2/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1951

The John Batchelor Show
MONETIZING LEO IS THE GENIUS. 3/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2024 11:39


MONETIZING LEO IS THE GENIUS. 3/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1941

The John Batchelor Show
MONETIZING LEO IS THE GENIUS. 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2024 8:59


MONETIZING LEO IS THE GENIUS. 4/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1927

The John Batchelor Show
#STARSHIPTOSPACE: 3/4:: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 3/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2023 11:39


#STARSHIPTOSPACE: 3/4:: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 3/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1942

The John Batchelor Show
#STARSHIPTOSPACE: 4/4:: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2023 8:59


#STARSHIPTOSPACE: 4/4:: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1963

The John Batchelor Show
#STARSHIPTOSPACE: 2/4:: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 2/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2023 8:25


#STARSHIPTOSPACE: 2/4:: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 2/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1888 JULES VERNE: "AROUND THE MOON"

The John Batchelor Show
#STARSHIPTOSPACE: 1/4:: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 1/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2023 10:24


#STARSHIPTOSPACE: 1/4:: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 1/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1888 JULES VERNE: "FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON"

The John Batchelor Show
STACKED AND WAITING ON THE FAA TO SAY "YES" 1/4: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 10, 2023 11:55


STACKED AND WAITING ON THE FAA TO SAY "YES" 1/4: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. PHOTO: HOUSTON 1969

The John Batchelor Show
STACKED AND WAITING ON THE FAA TO SAY "YES" 2/4: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 10, 2023 9:56


STACKED AND WAITING ON THE FAA TO SAY "YES"  2/4: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1970 HOUSTON

The John Batchelor Show
STACKED AND WAITING ON THE FAA TO SAY "YES" 3/4: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 10, 2023 13:25


STACKED AND WAITING ON THE FAA TO SAY "YES"  3/4: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. 1994 ROSKOSMOS

The John Batchelor Show
STACKED AND WAITING ON THE FAA TO SAY "YES" 4/4: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 10, 2023 10:15


STACKED AND WAITING ON THE FAA TO SAY "YES"  4/4: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space. PHOTO: 1961 (MUSK BORN 1971)

The John Batchelor Show
4/4: READY WITH STARSHIP #25: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 2, 2023 8:59


PHOTO: NO KNOWN RESTRICTIONS ON PUBLICATION. @BATCHELORSHOW 4/4: READY WITH STARSHIP #25: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

The John Batchelor Show
1/4: READY WITH STARSHIP #25: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 2, 2023 10:24


PHOTO: NO KNOWN RESTRICTIONS ON PUBLICATION. @BATCHELORSHOW 1/4: READY WITH STARSHIP #25: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

The John Batchelor Show
2/4: READY WITH STARSHIP #25: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 2, 2023 8:25


PHOTO: NO KNOWN RESTRICTIONS ON PUBLICATION. @BATCHELORSHOW 2/4: READY WITH STARSHIP #25: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

The John Batchelor Show
3/4: READY WITH STARSHIP #25: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 2, 2023 11:39


PHOTO: NO KNOWN RESTRICTIONS ON PUBLICATION. @BATCHELORSHOW 3/4: READY WITH STARSHIP #25: Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

The John Batchelor Show
1/4: #Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 1/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2023 10:25


Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow 1/4: #Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 1/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

The John Batchelor Show
2/4: #Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 2/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2023 8:25


Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow 2/4: #Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 2/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

The John Batchelor Show
3/4: #Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 3/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2023 11:39


Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow 3/4: #Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 3/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

The John Batchelor Show
4/4: #Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2023 9:00


Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow 4/4: #Countdown to Starship: the backstory: 4/4:  Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

The Way Podcast/Radio
102) SpaceX and Elon Musk w/ Eric Berger

The Way Podcast/Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 31, 2023 55:24


How did SpaceX turn from a scrappy group of engineers in an office in California, into a leading provider of space rocket launch services? What makes Elon Musk unique and how does he run his businesses? Today I dove into the space rocket industry with Eric Berger and talked about his book "Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX". Bio: Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to wonky NASA policy, and author of the book Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX. Eric has an astronomy degree from the University of Texas and a master's in journalism from the University of Missouri. He previously worked at the Houston Chronicle for 17 years, where the paper was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2009 for his coverage of Hurricane Ike. A certified meteorologist, Eric founded Space City Weather and lives in Houston. Website - https://arstechnica.com/author/ericberger/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace Artwork by Phillip Thor - https://linktr.ee/Philipthor_art The Way Podcast - www.PodcastTheWay.com - Follow at Twitter / Instagram - @podcasttheway (Subscribe/Follow on streaming platforms and social media!) To watch the visuals with the trailer go to https://www.podcasttheway.com/trailers/ Thank you Don Grant for the Intro/Outro. Check out his podcast - https://threeinterestingthings.captivate.fm Intro guitar copied from Aiden Ayers at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UiB9FMOP5s *The views demonstrated in this show are strictly those of The Way Podcast/Radio Show*

The John Batchelor Show
3/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 3, 2023 11:40


Photo: No known restrictions on publication. 1957 @Batchelorshow 3/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

The John Batchelor Show
4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 3, 2023 9:00


Photo: No known restrictions on publication. 1953 @Batchelorshow 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

The John Batchelor Show
2/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 3, 2023 8:25


Photo: No known restrictions on publication. 1942 @Batchelorshow 2/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

The John Batchelor Show
1/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 3, 2023 10:25


Photo: No known restrictions on publication. Galaxy 1956 @Batchelorshow 1/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

The John Batchelor Show
1/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX Hardcover – March 2, 2021 by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2022 10:27


Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow 1/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX Hardcover – March 2, 2021  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

The John Batchelor Show
2/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX Hardcover – March 2, 2021 by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2022 8:23


Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow 2/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX Hardcover – March 2, 2021  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

The John Batchelor Show
3/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX Hardcover – March 2, 2021 by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2022 11:45


Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow 3/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX Hardcover – March 2, 2021  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

The John Batchelor Show
4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX Hardcover – March 2, 2021 by Eric Berger (Author)

The John Batchelor Show

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2022 8:55


Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow 4/4: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX Hardcover – March 2, 2021  by  Eric Berger  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company's inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

Shoving the rocket into space with your bare hands

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 2, 2022 20:43


SpaceX has grown from nascent dreams of the final frontier into the world's premier commercial space launch company, with dozens of successful missions that have continually become more and more ambitious. Now, there's a budding ecosystem of SpaceX alumni who have left the mothership to build their own companies, taking the culture and values they learned and applying it to problems they saw at the front lines of space innovation. On today's episode of the “Securities” podcast, host Danny Crichton interviews two of those alumni, Laura Crabtree, the co-founder and CEO of Epsilon3, and Will Bruey, the co-founder and CEO of Varda Space. Laura and Will shared a cube at SpaceX, and are now building software and hardware startups, respectively. We discuss how SpaceX's culture shaped their perspectives as entrepreneurs, why they chose different problem areas of space to tackle, how the 2022 financial markets impact their approach to growth, and how they think about company building and the Los Angeles / Southern California hard tech ecosystem. Recommended reading for this episode: Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX News: Startup Epislon3 hopes to expand Pentagon reach with launch ‘software service' Epsilon3's space industry OS powers more than launches as it brings in $15M in new funding Varda Space Industries closes $42M Series A for off-planet manufacturing

How Do We Fix It?
Billionaire Elon Musk: SpaceX and Twitter. Eric Berger.

How Do We Fix It?

Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2022 29:52


Elon Musk is the richest person in the world and the most interesting business leader of his time. Disruptive and innovative, Musk has already revolutionized two giant industries— autos and aerospace. His planned purchase of Twitter will turn him into a power player in a third: social media.In this episode we look at what Elon Musk and his team achieved with SpaceX and share part of our 2121 interview with journalist Eric Berger, senior space editor at the science and tech news site, Ars Technica. Eric wrote the book "Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched Space." We also hear from our co-host Jim about his Commentary Magazine article, "Can Elon Musk Save Twitter?" We learn more about the risks and obstacles involved in buying the digital public square that Musk plans to take private. With SpaceX, Musk pioneered the use of reusable rockets, drastically cut the cost of launches and made space exploration much more interesting to people around the globe. He turned Tesla into the world's most successful electric car company. He is also founder of the tunnel drilling firm Boring Company, and co-founder of the neuro-technology firm Neuralink and Open AI, an artificial intelligence research lab."He's very demanding of pretty much everyone around him," says Eric Berger. "If you go to work for Elon Musk you better expect to work very hard and deliver, and with him you are going to get the chance to do great things."Recommendation: Both Jim and Richard explain why they are active Twitter users. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

War in Space
Episode 9: It Actually Is Rocket Science

War in Space

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 14, 2022 27:24


SpaceX has become a household name, and its success has shaped the modern space industry. But what about its tenuous beginnings? We analyse the failed launches and the difficult financial straits the company went through in discussion with Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica and author of Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX. In addition to analysing why building and launching rockets is so hard, we trace the implications the war in Ukraine has already had for the West's cooperation with Russia on the International Space Station. Will Russia be the world's first former space power?

Life Lessons In Punjabi - From Great Books, Movies & History.
Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX in Punjabi - Book learning

Life Lessons In Punjabi - From Great Books, Movies & History.

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 18, 2022 10:00


Learning from a great book Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX. The book is written by Eric Berger. The learning are in punjabi to learn and grow personally and in business. The book is about Elon Musk's personality, growth and how has made SpaceX one of the best companies in Space Race.

Founders
Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX

Founders

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2022 66:37


What I learned from reading Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger. Upgrade and immediately gain access to 244 full length episodes.WHAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE SAYING:“Without a doubt, the highest value-to-cost ratio I've taken advantage of in the last year is the Founders podcast premium feed. Tap into eons of knowledge and experiences, condensed into digestible portions. Highly, highly recommend. “Uniquely outstanding. No fluff and all substance. David does an outstanding job summarizing these biographies and hones in on the elements that make his subjects so unique among entrepreneurs. I particularly enjoy that he focuses on both the founder's positive and negative characteristics as a way of highlighting things to mimic and avoid.”“I just paid for my first premium podcast subscription for Founders podcast. Learning from those who came before us is one of the highest value ways to invest time. David does his homework and exponentially improves my efficiency by focusing on the most valuable lessons.”“I haven't found a better return on my time and money than your podcast for inspiration and time-tested wisdom to help me on my journey.“I've now listened to every episode. From this knowledge I've doubled my business to $500k a year. Love your passion and recommend your podcast to everyone.”“Founders is the only podcast I pay for and it's worth 100x the cost.”“I have listened to many podcasts on entrepreneurship (HIBT, Masters of Scale, etc.) and find Founders to be consistently more helpful than any other entrepreneurship podcast. David is a craftsperson, he carefully reads biographies of founders, distills the most important anecdotes and themes from their life, and draws commonalities across lives. David's focus is rightfully not on teaching you a formula to succeed but on constantly pushing you to think different.”“I highly highly recommend this podcast. Holy cow. I've been binge listening to these and you start to see patterns across all these incredible humans.”Listening to your podcast has changed my life and that is not a statement I make often.“After one episode I quickly joined the Misfit feed. Love the insight and thoughts shared along the way. David loves what he does and it shines through on the podcast. Definitely my go-to podcast now.”“It is worth every penny. I cannot put into words how fantastic this podcast is. Just stop reading this and get the full access.”“Personally it's one of my top 3 favorite podcasts. If you're into business and startups and technology, this is for you. David covers good books and I've come to really appreciate his perspective. Can't say enough good things.”“I quickly subscribed and it's honestly been the best money I've spent all year. It has inspired me to read biographies. Highly recommend.”“This is the most inspirational and best business podcast out there. David has inspired me to focus on biographies rather than general business books. I'm addicted.”“Anyone interested in business must find the time to listen to each any every Founders podcast. A high return on investment will be a virtual certainty. Subscribe and start listening as soon as possible.”“David saves you hundreds of hours by summarizing bios of legendary business founders and providing valuable insight on what makes an individual successful. He has introduced me to many founders I would have never known existed.”“The podcasts offer spectacular lessons on life, human nature and business achievement. David's enthusiasm and personal thoughts bring me joy. My journey has been enhanced by his efforts.”"Founders is the best self investment that I've made in years."Sign up to get access to every full episode. You will learn the key insights from biographies on Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, John D. Rockefeller, Coco Chanel, Andrew Carnegie, Enzo Ferrari, Estee Lauder, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Phil Knight, Joseph Pulitzer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Alexander Graham Bell, Bill Gates, P.T. Barnum, Edwin Land, Henry Ford, Walter Chrysler, Thomas Edison, David Ogilvy, Ben Franklin, Howard Hughes, George Lucas, Levi Strauss, Walt Disney and so many more. You will learn from the founders of Nike, Patagonia, Apple, Microsoft, Hershey, General Motors, Ford, Standard Oil, Polaroid, Home Depot, MGM, Intel, Federal Express, Wal Mart, JP Morgan, Chrysler, Cadillac, Oracle, Hyundai, Seagram, Berkshire Hathaway, Teledyne, Adidas, Les Schwab, Renaissance Technologies, IKEA, Sony, Ferrari, and so many more. Sign up to get access to every full episode.  

Senkrechtstarter
Sportwäsche für astronautische Raumfahrt | powered by Orbital Plausch

Senkrechtstarter

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 14, 2021 7:54


Thorsten von Orbital Plausch macht heute Senkrechtstarter Vaterschaftsvertretung und erzählt uns warum man in der Schwerelosigkeit schneller ins Schwitzen kommt. #iss #astroalex #SmartTex #raumfahrt Link zu Orbitalplausch: https://youtu.be/Gwf491CMxfw?t=101 Link zum Senkrechtstarter Discord-Server: https://discord.gg/b9rFJyVWbm Der Senkrechtstarter-Shop: https://wearspace.co/senkrechtstarter Link zum Senkrechtstarter Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/senkrechtstarter Du möchtest mich durch deine Kanalmitgliedschaft unterstützen? "Das ist der Weg": https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxKve2IFHOPx7NR4BQw16zw/join Dir gefällt was ich tue und Du magst mich auf einen Kaffee einladen? https://paypal.me/senkrechtstarter "Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX" von Eric Berger Auch als Hörbuch sehr zu empfehlen! https://amzn.to/3h0oubl * Mein Kumpel Marian von Teslamag hat mir ein Deal für tessi-supply klar gemacht. Mit dem Code SENKRECHTSTARTER bekommst du 10% auf deine Bestellung (: https://tessi-supply.com/?ref=SENKRECHTSTARTER * * Kennzeichnen Werbe- oder Affiliate-Links. Ich verlinke Dir nur Produkte von denen ich überzeugt bin und die ich selbst nutze. Dir entstehen durch die Nutzung der Links keine Mehrkosten. Haftungshinweis: Alle Links die ich unter meinen Videos poste, sollen dir helfen die Themen die ich vorstelle weiter zu recherchieren bzw. dir zeigen, wo ich meine Informationen her habe. So möchte ich meine Videos für dich transparenter machen. Ich kann aber keine Haftung für die Inhalte von externen Links geben. Für den Inhalt der verlinkten Seiten sind ausschließlich deren Betreiber verantwortlich.

Political Economy with James Pethokoukis
Eric Berger: Elon Musk and the rise of SpaceX

Political Economy with James Pethokoukis

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2021 31:00


NASA last launched astronauts into space with its final Space Shuttle mission in the summer of 2011. But, nine years later, a rocket built by SpaceX lifted off at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and carried two astronauts to the International Space Station. How did this private company, in less than 20 years, go from a fledgling startup to one of the biggest players in space? To answer that question, I've brought on Eric Berger. Eric is the senior space editor at Ars Technica and the author of https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-SpaceX/dp/0062979973/ (Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX).

Political Economy with James Pethokoukis
Eric Berger: Elon Musk and the rise of SpaceX

Political Economy with James Pethokoukis

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2021


NASA last launched astronauts into space with its final Space Shuttle mission in the summer of 2011. But, nine years later, a rocket built by SpaceX lifted off at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and carried two astronauts to the International Space Station. How did this private company, in less than 20 years, go from a fledgling startup to one of the biggest players in space? To answer that question, I’ve brought on Eric Berger. Eric is the senior space editor at Ars Technica and the author of Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX.

Senkrechtstarter
Interview: Bülent Altan über die besten und schlechtesten Momente bei SpaceX

Senkrechtstarter

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2021 13:00


Teil 2: Was waren das für Gefühle wenn die selbst Entwickelte Hardware in den Orbit fliegt? Hatte man Angst bei SpaceX? Darüber und noch viel mehr spreche ich mit einem riesen Vorbild von mir: Bülent Altan. #spacex #mynaric #newspace #raumfahrt Über Bülent Altan: Bülent begann seine Karriere 2004 als einer der ersten Mitarbeiter bei SpaceX. Bei SpaceX war er maßgeblich daran beteiligt, die Avionik-Abteilung des Unternehmens von sieben auf über 200 Mitarbeiter auszubauen und war als Vizepräsident für die Avionik und Steuerung der Falcon 9 Rakete und dem Dragon-Raumschiff verantwortlich. Bülent war außerdem Vizepräsident für die Sicherung von Satellitenmissionen für die Starlink-Megakonstellation. Mittlerweile ist er der CEO von Mynaric einem deutschen Unternehmen für Satelliten Laser Kommunikation in der Nähe von München. Teil 1 des Interviews: https://youtu.be/I-IiAfF6iB4 Teil 3 des Interviews: https://youtu.be/EJhfFW53hZk Meine Episode über Mynaric: https://youtu.be/0UgPPSJkLw0 Das Buch über das ich mit Bülent gesprochen habe: "Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX" von Eric Berger Auch als Hörbuch sehr zu empfehlen! https://amzn.to/3h0oubl * Der Senkrechtstarter-Shop: https://wearspace.co/senkrechtstarter Link zum Senkrechtstarter Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/senkrechtstarter Du möchtest mich durch deine Kanalmitgliedschaft unterstützen? "Das ist der Weg": https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxKve2IFHOPx7NR4BQw16zw/join Dir gefällt was ich tue und Du magst mich auf einen Kaffee einladen? https://paypal.me/senkrechtstarter Link zum Senkrechtstarter Discord-Server: https://discord.gg/b9rFJyVWbm * Kennzeichnen Werbe- oder Affiliate-Links. Ich verlinke Dir nur Produkte von denen ich überzeugt bin und die ich selbst nutze. Dir entstehen durch die Nutzung der Links keine Mehrkosten. Haftungshinweis: Alle Links die ich unter meinen Videos poste, sollen dir helfen die Themen die ich vorstelle weiter zu recherchieren bzw. dir zeigen, wo ich meine Informationen her habe. So möchte ich meine Videos für dich transparenter machen. Ich kann aber keine Haftung für die Inhalte von externen Links geben. Für den Inhalt der verlinkten Seiten sind ausschließlich deren Betreiber verantwortlich.

Senkrechtstarter
Interview: Bülent Altan über Starship, Mynaric und die Zukunft der Raumfahrt in Europa

Senkrechtstarter

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2021 17:18


Teil 3: Warum arbeitet Bülent Altan nicht mehr bei SpaceX? Wie sieht die Zukunft der europäischen Raumfahrt aus? Wie sieht er den Newspace und hat die Institutionelle Raumfahrt noch eine Daseinsberechtigung? Darüber und noch viel mehr spreche ich mit einem riesen Vorbild von mir: Bülent Altan. #invest #spacex #mynaric #newspace #raumfahrt Über Bülent Altan: Bülent begann seine Karriere 2004 als einer der ersten Mitarbeiter bei SpaceX. Bei SpaceX war er maßgeblich daran beteiligt, die Avionik-Abteilung des Unternehmens von sieben auf über 200 Mitarbeiter auszubauen und war als Vizepräsident für die Avionik und Steuerung der Falcon 9 Rakete und dem Dragon-Raumschiff verantwortlich. Bülent war außerdem Vizepräsident für die Sicherung von Satellitenmissionen für die Starlink-Megakonstellation. Mittlerweile ist er der CEO von Mynaric einem deutschen Unternehmen für Satelliten Laser Kommunikation in der Nähe von München. Teil 1 des Interviews: https://youtu.be/I-IiAfF6iB4 Teil 2 des Interviews: https://youtu.be/OcSOnKd3ySA Meine Episode über Mynaric: https://youtu.be/0UgPPSJkLw0 Das Buch über das ich mit Bülent gesprochen habe: "Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX" von Eric Berger Auch als Hörbuch sehr zu empfehlen! https://amzn.to/3h0oubl * Der Senkrechtstarter-Shop: https://wearspace.co/senkrechtstarter Link zum Senkrechtstarter Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/senkrechtstarter Du möchtest mich durch deine Kanalmitgliedschaft unterstützen? "Das ist der Weg": https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxKve2IFHOPx7NR4BQw16zw/join Dir gefällt was ich tue und Du magst mich auf einen Kaffee einladen? https://paypal.me/senkrechtstarter Link zum Senkrechtstarter Discord-Server: https://discord.gg/b9rFJyVWbm * Kennzeichnen Werbe- oder Affiliate-Links. Ich verlinke Dir nur Produkte von denen ich überzeugt bin und die ich selbst nutze. Dir entstehen durch die Nutzung der Links keine Mehrkosten. Haftungshinweis: Alle Links die ich unter meinen Videos poste, sollen dir helfen die Themen die ich vorstelle weiter zu recherchieren bzw. dir zeigen, wo ich meine Informationen her habe. So möchte ich meine Videos für dich transparenter machen. Ich kann aber keine Haftung für die Inhalte von externen Links geben. Für den Inhalt der verlinkten Seiten sind ausschließlich deren Betreiber verantwortlich.

Senkrechtstarter
Interview: Bülent Altan über die harten ersten Jahre von SpaceX und Falcon 1

Senkrechtstarter

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2021 18:57


Eine Orbitalrakete unter Zeitdruck im Flug mit Taschenmessern vor der Implosion bewahren bevor der Sprit ausgeht. Eine Meuterei auf einer einsamen Insel. Die Zukunft der europäischen Raumfahrt und über noch viel mehr spreche ich mit einem riesen Vorbild von mir: Bülent Altan. #spacex #newspace #raumfahrt Teil 2 des Interviews: https://youtu.be/OcSOnKd3ySA Über Bülent Altan: Bülent begann seine Karriere 2004 als einer der ersten Mitarbeiter bei SpaceX. Bei SpaceX war er maßgeblich daran beteiligt, die Avionik-Abteilung des Unternehmens von sieben auf über 200 Mitarbeiter auszubauen und war als Vizepräsident für die Avionik und Steuerung der Falcon 9 Rakete und dem Dragon-Raumschiff verantwortlich. Bülent war außerdem Vizepräsident für die Sicherung von Satellitenmissionen für die Starlink-Megakonstellation. Mittlerweile ist er der CEO von Mynaric einem deutschen Unternehmen für Satelliten Laser Kommunikation in der Nähe von München. Wenn du gerne für Bülent arbeiten würdest und Bock auf richtig knackige Probleme hast: https://mynaric.jobs.personio.de/job/486876?language=&display=en Meine Episode über Mynaric: https://youtu.be/0UgPPSJkLw0 Das Buch über das ich mit Bülent gesprochen habe: "Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX" von Eric Berger Auch als Hörbuch sehr zu empfehlen! Eines meiner Lieblings Bücher https://amzn.to/3h0oubl * Der Senkrechtstarter-Shop: https://wearspace.co/senkrechtstarter Link zum Senkrechtstarter Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/senkrechtstarter Du möchtest mich durch deine Kanalmitgliedschaft unterstützen? "Das ist der Weg": https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxKve2IFHOPx7NR4BQw16zw/join Dir gefällt was ich tue und Du magst mich auf einen Kaffee einladen? https://paypal.me/senkrechtstarter Link zum Senkrechtstarter Discord-Server: https://discord.gg/b9rFJyVWbm * Kennzeichnen Werbe- oder Affiliate-Links. Ich verlinke Dir nur Produkte von denen ich überzeugt bin und die ich selbst nutze. Dir entstehen durch die Nutzung der Links keine Mehrkosten. Haftungshinweis: Alle Links die ich unter meinen Videos poste, sollen dir helfen die Themen die ich vorstelle weiter zu recherchieren bzw. dir zeigen, wo ich meine Informationen her habe. So möchte ich meine Videos für dich transparenter machen. Ich kann aber keine Haftung für die Inhalte von externen Links geben. Für den Inhalt der verlinkten Seiten sind ausschließlich deren Betreiber verantwortlich.

Razib Khan's Unsupervised Learning
Eric Berger: SpaceX and Elon Musk

Razib Khan's Unsupervised Learning

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 18, 2021 46:02


Subscribe now Give a gift subscription Share This week on the Unsupervised Learning podcast Razib turns his gaze to space with Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica and author of Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days that Launched SpaceX. They ask who is Elon Musk anyway, and how did SpaceX come to win the early race to dominate private spaceflight? What does the privatization of the space fleet mean for the prospects and goals of NASA? How has NASA's mission evolved, and how does the privatization of spaceflight complement NASA's competencies? Eric shares his in-depth research and direct experience interviewing pivotal early members of SpaceX's team to answer these questions. He also outlines Musk's vision for the future of space travel and the prospects of a human colony on Mars.  As the conversation rocks on, Razib and Eric go beyond the Kuiper belt and straight into a “science fiction” world that may be on an accelerated path to becoming “science fact” thanks to SpaceX's early efforts pushing the envelope. They discuss why Jupiter's moon Europa is so interesting to space-nuts, and when asteroid mining might become economically feasible.  Eric talks about how long we might have to wait for orbital power-generating stations and Dyson spheres.  Finally, the discussion comes back to earth as they take a look at some of the problems and limitations that the space industry is currently trying to overcome in its efforts to make the “final frontier” something more than a television catchphrase. Eric talks about how the complementary strategies of competing billionaires, Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson, are setting the stage for what may be the next exciting chapter in the human epoch. Subscribe now Give a gift subscription Share

Founders
Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX

Founders

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2021 30:17


What I learned from reading Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger.Sign up to listen to the rest of this episode and get access to every full episode.   

The Astro Ben Podcast
Eric Berger: Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica and Author of Liftoff (Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX)

The Astro Ben Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 30, 2021 38:06


Eric Berger is a senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering all things astronomy, private spaceflight, and the politics of NASA. He is the author of the bestselling book Liftoff about the rise of SpaceX. Eric Berger has a degree in astronomy from the University of Texas and a master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. In this episode, Ben here's more about SpaceX and why Eric is so fascinated with their journey!   00:19 Episode 24: Eric Berger 01:12 Bringing on Eric 02:45 Eric's interest in space 03:25 What is Ars Technica 04:14 Astronomy and journalism collide 05:11 What his job involves 06:04 Journalist independence 06:54 What is going on in the Space Industry? 10:01 Lift Off: Journey of SpaceX (early days) 11:04 Why was the 4th flight so significant early on? 13:42 Research on Lift Off 16:15 Experience with Elon Musk 20:05 Starbase 22:05 Where is the Space Industry is heading? 24:23 The Hype around SpaceX 26:24 Is the Space Industry immune to fake news? 28:26 Where does Lift Off end? 29:30 Will Elon get to Mars? 34:00 Eric's personal life 35:12 Wrap Up   Social Media/Contact Details Twitter: @SciGuySpace You can buy Liftoff here:   https://www.harpercollins.com/products/liftoff-eric-berger?variant=32126620205090&utm_source=Eric+Berger&utm_medium=athrtwttr&utm_campaign=Liftoff+Announcement Ars Technica: www.arstechnica.com Stay connected with us! Use #Astroben across various social media platforms to engage with us! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astrobenpodcast/ Website (coming soon): www.astroben.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/gambleonit?lang=en Please subscribe and rate - Ad Astra!

Business Books & Co.
[S3E1] Liftoff with Eric Berger

Business Books & Co.

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 1, 2021 43:24


We interviewed Eric Berger, the author of Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX. It's about the journey of grit, resilience, and unbridled optimism that turned a scrappy startup into the premier space company of the 21st century. Eric utilized full access at SpaceX to get the inside story from employees and Elon Musk himself. Most of the book focuses on the exciting early period of SpaceX from 2002 - 2009 when there were experimental rockets, tropical islands, and even some explosions. We also welcomed our new co-host, Kevin Hudak, and learned more about his background. Welcome to the show, Kevin! Show Notes Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger via Amazon Eric Berger on Twitter Eric Berger at Ars Technica Follow us on Twitter @BusinessBooksCo and join our Amazon book club. Find out more at http://businessbooksandco.com

Hold These Truths with Dan Crenshaw
Boots on the Moon and Nuking Mars | Eric Berger

Hold These Truths with Dan Crenshaw

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 4, 2021 46:04


Two big trends have radically transformed space exploration over the past decade: the privatization of the space industry thanks to Elon Musk and the rise of the Chinese space program. What does this mean for NASA's mission in the 21st century? Are we on the verge of geopolitical battles with China over Moon territories? Why does Elon maybe want to nuke Mars? Space journalist and author Eric Berger joins us to look at what we can expect as humanity enters the next great era of space travel. Eric Berger is the author of "Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX." He is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering SpaceX, NASA, and everything beyond. Follow him on Twitter at @SciGuySpace.

ChinaEconTalk
SpaceX, Elon and their Chinese Imitators

ChinaEconTalk

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2021 39:22


How did SpaceX revolutionize the global space industry? To discuss SpaceX's origin story and secret sauce, guest Eric Berger, author of Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX, joins the show. Cory Fitz, author of the TaikoNautica newsletter on China's space industry (http://taikonautica.substack.com), cohosts and shares his perspective on the Chinese launch ecosystem.We discuss:How SpaceX almost didn't succeedThe role of government in the commercial space industry996 culture vs SpaceX engineersPlease consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://www.patreon.com/ChinaTalk Outro music: Space Oddity by David Bowiehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYYRH4apXDo Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

ChinaTalk
SpaceX, Elon and their Chinese Imitators

ChinaTalk

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 25, 2021 39:22


How did SpaceX revolutionize the global space industry? To discuss SpaceX's origin story and secret sauce, guest Eric Berger, author of Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX, joins the show. Cory Fitz, author of the TaikoNautica newsletter on China's space industry (http://taikonautica.substack.com), cohosts and shares his perspective on the Chinese launch ecosystem.We discuss:How SpaceX almost didn't succeedThe role of government in the commercial space industry996 culture vs SpaceX engineersPlease consider supporting ChinaTalk at https://www.patreon.com/ChinaTalk Outro music: Space Oddity by David Bowiehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYYRH4apXDo Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Time to Eat the Dogs
Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX

Time to Eat the Dogs

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 21, 2021 37:39


Eric Berger talks about the rise of SpaceX and its eccentric, mercurial founder Elon Musk. Berger is the Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica. He's the author of Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Warp News - Fact-Based Optimistic News

Get your ticket to this week's Warp Space Summit Pre-Event here!In today's episode, we're gearing up for the first of three pre-events for the Warp Space Summit! In this event, we talk to Eric Berger, author of the book Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX + the latest on Starlink. Join us for free!Be sure to also get your tickets for the Warp Space Summit at warpspacesummit.org Also, in this week's Optimist's Edge, Spending time with the kids. Most parents have a guilty conscience because they feel that they don't spend enough time with their children and believe that we spend less time with our children now than in the past. But is it really true?Become a premium supporter today and get your first month for free!-------------At Warp News, we strive to balance the negative bias in mainstream media,  with fact-based, optimistic news focusing on the possibilities with new technologies, ideas, and collaboration.Make sure you give this episode a thumbs up, follow the show, and best of all, share the podcast with your family and friends. Help us to continue to chip away at the overwhelming imbalance of negative bias in mainstream media.Warp News is a media company run by the nonprofit foundation Warp Institute.The world has gotten a lot better in the last decades, but most people still have a negative view of the future.We think one important reason is the negative bias in news media.Warp News will help to balance that with fact-based, optimistic news.Fact-based optimismOur articles are always based on facts and science. We focus on the possibilities with new technology, ideas, and collaboration. Warp News, like the foundation, bases itself in fact-based optimism.If you find any facts that are not correct, please contact our Editor-in-Chief Magnus Aschan and we will investigate and correct them.Warp News is also available in Swedish Edition and has a newsletter that is published weekly.Warp News Premium SupportersOur work is funded by our premium supporters. Thanks to them we are able to spread fact-based optimistic news across the world.If you support our mission of making people more optimistic about the future, consider becoming a premium supporter. Read more and sign-up here (the first month is free.)The Optimist's EdgeHaving a fact-based optimistic view of life will give you an edge over the pessimists. You will see the opportunities they will miss.Support the show (https://www.warpnews.org/signup/)

MONEY FM 89.3 - Your Money With Michelle Martin
The inside story of how SpaceX became the world's leading rocket company

MONEY FM 89.3 - Your Money With Michelle Martin

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 11, 2021 10:00


Michelle Martin and Eric Berger, Author of Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX discuss Musk's venture, the challenges and their successes.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nervous Habits with Ricky Rosen
Nervous Habits - Episode 56: The 21st Century Space Race: Elon Musk’s Relentless Efforts to Disrupt the Aerospace Industry (And Toast His Pop-Tarts) with Senior Space Editor Eric Berger

Nervous Habits with Ricky Rosen

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2021 76:38


Nervous Habits host Ricky Rosen is joined by Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica, and author of Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days that Launched SpaceX, Eric Berger to explore issues including… —How Elon Musk demands the impossible from his employees - and more often than not gets it, —The specific challenges associated with creating a commercially developed, privately funded rocket, —SpaceX’s early struggles with competing with industry titans like Boeing and Lockheed, and launching the Falcon 1, and finally… —The likelihood that SpaceX will get us to Mars within our lifetime.

Talk Cocktail
Elon Musk IS Leading Us Into The Future

Talk Cocktail

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 7, 2021 27:30


Someone once said that the best way to predict the future is to invent it. In many ways that’s been the story of scientific progress. It seems there is always someone that leads us into the future. Someone whose vision and entrepreneurship and obsessive drive combine to turn the next big idea into the next big thing. This has been true from Franklin, to Edison, from Henry Ford to Thomas Watson, from Bill Gates to Steve Jobs, and today Elon Musk is the inheritor of that mantel. Electric cars, commercial space travel, high speed transportation and even new forms of education are all part of the vision that Musk sees, and his vision may be on its way to become our reality. As we all know Musk disruption of the automotive industry is full blown. What we may not fully understand is the way in which Musk, though Space X, is disrupting the aerospace industry, how we talk about space exploration, space travel and simply what a rocket is and does. Aerospace journalist Eric Berger captures Musk's look into the future in Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX    My conversation with Eric Berger:

Commonwealth Club of California Podcast
Liftoff: Inside the Historic Flights that Launched Elon Musk's SpaceX

Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2021 66:42


Hear the dramatic inside story of the first four historic flights that launched SpaceX—and Elon Musk—from a shaky startup into the world's leading-edge rocket company. In 2006, SpaceX—a brand-new venture with fewer than 200 employees—rolled its first, single-engine rocket onto a launch pad at Kwajalein Atoll. After a groundbreaking launch from the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the Falcon 1 rocket designed by Elon Musk's engineers rose into the air for approximately 30 seconds. Then its engine flamed out, and the rocket crashed back into the ocean. In 2007, SpaceX undertook a second launch. This time, the rocket rose far into space, but just before reaching orbit it spun out of control. Confident of success in 2008, Musk and his team launched their third rocket with several paying customers. The first stage executed perfectly, but instead of falling away, it thudded into the second stage. Another failure. Elon Musk had only budgeted for three attempts when he founded SpaceX. Out of money and with a single Falcon 1 rocket left in its factory, SpaceX decided to try one last, dramatic launch. Over eight weeks, engineers worked furiously to prepare this final rocket. The fate of Musk's venture mirrored the trajectory of this slender, single-engine rocket aimed toward the skies. If it crashed and burned, so would SpaceX. In September 2008, SpaceX's last chance for success lifted off . . . and accelerated like a dream, soaring into orbit flawlessly. That success would launch a miraculous decade for the company, in which SpaceX grew from building a single-engine rocket to one with a staggering 27 engines; created two different spacecraft; and mastered reusable-rocket descents using mobile drone ships on the open seas. It marked a level of production and achievement that has not been seen since the space race of the 1960s. But these achievements would not have been possible without SpaceX's first four flight tests. Drawing on unparalleled access and exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current employees—engineers, designers, mechanics and executives, including Elon Musk—Eric Berger tells the complete story of this foundational generation that transformed SpaceX into the world's leading space company. MLF ORGANIZER Gerald Harris NOTES MLF: Technology & Society SPEAKERS Eric Berger Author, Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days that Launched SpaceX In Conversation with Alison van Diggelen Host, “Fresh Dialogues” and Contributor, BBC This program contains EXPLICIT language. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on March 11th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin
Francesca Rudkin: Government moving at a snail's pace in dealing with the pandemic

The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2021 3:50


This week I have been reading Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger.The book marks the first time Elon Musk has given an author free reign inside SpaceX to speak with employees about the company's early years, and Musk himself was generous with his time so that Berger could get an understanding of his leadership style.What you take away from this book is how differently Elon Musk operates from anyone else in the space business. He's a doer. He's a man devoted to speed and working fast, to setting aggressive schedules, to empowering his staff to attempt something to see if it works rather than planning on paper whether it will work. He's obsessive about solving problems, and works with his whole team to do so, and makes decisive, quick decisions so his staff can get on with their jobs.While we waited on Friday for the government to announce a preliminary decision that had been made the night before about Auckland's alert levels, I couldn't help thinking that some of Musk's sense of urgency would have been a good thing this week.I understand the government was waiting for one more set of test results to come through on Friday morning before announcing a change in alert levels, but as it had been a fortnight since a community case was confirmed in Auckland – and everyone expected there would be a move -  would it have been so hard to give businesses even a heads up?This week we also saw the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison throw the New Zealand government under the bus for dragging their heels over the Trans-Tasman bubble. Our Prime Minister replied the government would continue to investigate the opportunity of having a bubble. I would have thought a year into this pandemic we should be well past the point of investigating – why aren't we implementing?This week we also saw the vaccine roll our plan that looks very similar to plans underway internationally. Chris Hipkins announced we would vaccinate those most at risk of getting and spreading Covid-19, and those most at risk of getting seriously sick from it. Then we will slowly work our way through the rest of the population. Makes total sense - a good solid plan.And yet, I have no idea when or whether I will be vaccinated this year. Fingers crossed I will. And why hasn't some thought gone into the specifics of New Zealand's situation. Should we be vaccinating all adults in South Auckland, in regions with MIQ facilities?  Once we get to Group 4 should we be prioritising bus drivers and taxi drivers – everyone has come out this week with a reason why they should be moved up the queue.The government is also yet to make a decision on two further categories: one for people who may need to get a vaccine on compassionate grounds; and a national significance category, which could include groups who need a vaccine in order to represent New Zealand overseas. Why this wasn't thought about previously too, I don't know.A week during which it feels New Zealand is moving at a snail's pace may not have been the time to read a book about a man who achieved what many thought was impossible. It feels like we're ever cautious and conservative in how we deal with this pandemic. We need more doing, less pondering.Of course, governing a nation isn't running a space company, and politics isn't business. Elon Musk's leadership style tolerates risk and his attitude is driven by the reality that time is money – his money. I can't help comparing this to the government's approach to COVID, in this case time is still money – but it's not out of the pocket of those making the decisions, it's our money – and the government needs reminding our time is precious too.I'm not saying Elon Musk needs to run NZ – he's quite wonderfully mad so I don't think that would work out – I just wish for leadership with a sense of urgency, that embraces the fluidity of our situation, and gets things moving.

The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin
Eric Berger: New book tells the story of the early days of Elon Musk's SpaceX

The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2021 15:22


A new book is taking a behind the scenes look at the space industry - more specifically, the inside story and origin of leading-edge rocket company SpaceX.The company was founded by Elon Musk, who serves as CEO, CTO and chief designer of SpaceX, also CEO, early investor and product architect at Tesla. He's also one of the richest people in the world.The new book is Liftoff: Elon Musk and the desperate early days of SpaceX, by Texas-based Space Editor at Ars Technica Eric Berger.He joined Francesca Rudkin to discuss the fascinating story by SpaceX's push to dominate the space industry. LISTEN ABOVE

Are We There Yet?
The Early Days of SpaceX & Crew Dragon's Next Commander

Are We There Yet?

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 2, 2021


From booster landings to astronaut launches, it's hard to imagine a time when SpaceX struggled. But once it seemed like the company may never get off the ground. Eric Berger, journalist and Ars Technica's senior space editor, chronicles the company's desperate first years in his new book Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX, starting with the company's founding 2002 and ending with the successful launch of Falcon 1 in 2008.