Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002, in a warehouse in El Segundo, to make getting to orbit far cheaper. Its first rocket, Falcon 1, failed three times in a row, in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and the company had the money for one more. The fourth reached orbit on September 28, 2008.
Three months later NASA hired SpaceX to fly cargo to the space station: twelve flights, up to $1.6 billion. Falcon 9 flew in 2010, and in May 2012 a Dragon capsule reached the station, the first from a private company. SpaceX posted an update nearly every time something happened: an engine fired, a stage shipped, a rocket fell in the Pacific. Musk wrote most of the first five years himself.
Every company update we could find from 2002 to 2013, with the launch reports, the testimony and the press, back in order and unedited. With an essay, a map of Omelek Island and a launch chart. 428 pages, 8.5 by 11 inches, in cloth. Printed September 2026.
The essay that opens the book: why building a rocket cheaply is a manufacturing problem before it is a physics one. Free to read.
When the book is available, subscribers hear first.