Liftoff

Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX

By: Eric Berger

Narrated by: Rob Shapiro

‘Just read it.’ Elon Musk

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.

SpaceX has enjoyed a miraculous decade. Less than 20 years after its founding, it boasts the largest constellation of commercial satellites in orbit, has pioneered reusable rockets, and in 2020 became the first private company to launch human beings into orbit. Half a century after the space race SpaceX is pushing forward into the cosmos, laying the foundation for our exploration of other worlds.

But before it became one of the most powerful players in the aerospace industry, SpaceX was a fledgling startup, scrambling to develop a single workable rocket before the money ran dry. The engineering challenge was immense; numerous other private companies had failed similar attempts. And even if SpaceX succeeded, they would then have to compete for government contracts with titans such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who had tens of thousands of employees and tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. SpaceX had fewer than 200 employees and the relative pittance of $100 million in the bank.

In Liftoff, Eric Berger 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. 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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Eric Berger (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

‘Berger vividly weaves a tale of technology development at its most heroic …The result is a rousing—and hopeful—saga of hard-won innovation succeeding on an epic scale.’
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY STARRED REVIEW

‘Berger writes with the kind of hard-won insider authority that only comes through covering the nuts and bolts of the commercial space industry for the past twenty years’ FORBES

‘Eric Berger does a fine job of telling the white-knuckle story of how SpaceX was created in 2002 and came close to collapse several times. Although Liftoff recounts the experiences of many of SpaceX’s brilliant engineers, the near-maniacal Musk is almost at the heart of the story.’ FINANCIAL TIMES

‘Eric Berger's book uses unparalleled access to Musk and all of SpaceX's early staff to place the reader right among them. It is written with verve and polish to keep you turning the pages.’ SPECTATOR

‘The compelling story of how Elon Musk’s relentless quest to get humans to Marks helped SpaceX succeed against the odds makes great reading’ NEW SCIENTIST

“This is a book that will hold your rapt attention from start to finish.” — CHARLES BOLDEN, Former NASA Administrator and Four-Time Astronaut

‘The elegant brilliance of the engineering that allows today’s space rockets to land themselves back on earth – or at sea – right way up, and on target to the inch, is all the doing of the teams assembled by Elon Musk – and the story of how he did it, and how for sure he will get us to Mars whether we like it or not, is told in appropriately stellar fashion by Eric Berger in a book that held me captive, in earth orbit, from prologue to epilogue, countdown to splashdown.’
—SIMON WINCHESTER

Great book!

Well written, well read. And a great story, a story that’s ongoing. Elon pushing his team’s to greater and greater things. He is by far the most important human being alive, when it comes to the long term survival of the human species.

This book proves rocket surgery is a thing

This was an amazing story, series of stories really, of almost unimaginable struggle and stunning triumph. A story of what competence and sheer tenacity can do. The sympathetic focus on the engineers who went all-in with Musk, juxtaposed with Elon's perspective in leading and channeling them, was very enjoyable. Learned details and context and nuance I haven't come across anywhere else. I hope there will be more where this book came from in due time.

What a Company

The shear determination of Elon Musk and SpaceX is inspiring! What an enjoyable book it is.