Spaceport Earth

The Reinvention of Spaceflight

By: Joe Pappalardo

Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly

Is there a future in orbit? This timely book reveals the state of spaceflight at a crucial juncture in the industry's history.

It's the 21st century, and everything about the space industry is changing. Rather than despair over the end of American manned missions and a moribund commercial launch market, private sector companies are now changing the way humanity accesses orbit. Upstarts including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are building a dizzying array of new spacecraft and rockets, not just for government use, but for any paying customer. At the heart of this space revolution are spaceports, the center and literal launching pads of spaceflight. Spaceports cost hundreds of millions of dollars, face extreme competition, and host operations that do not tolerate failures - which can often be fatal.

Aerospace journalist Joe Pappalardo has witnessed space rocket launches around the world, from the jungle of French Guiana to the coastline of California. In his comprehensive work Spaceport Earth, Pappalardo describes the rise of private companies in the United States and how they are reshaping the way the world is using space for industry and science. Spaceport Earth is a travelogue through modern space history as it is being made, offering space enthusiasts, futurists, and technology buffs a close perspective of rockets and launch sites, and chronicling the stories of industrial titans, engineers, government officials, billionaires, schemers, and politicians who are redefining what it means for humans to be a space-faring species.

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

©2019 Joe Pappalardo (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing

This was interesting and informative but dated

The book is a collection of articles the author wrote over decades, so in some of them, he's speculating about things that might happen that actually happened years ago. It was a bit off-putting.

I think each article needs an epilogue that explains what really happened.

Also, the book ends with a conclusion that ties things together reasonably well, but it seemed to need that at the beginning. Instead, it starts straight off with an article from 15-20 years ago. I almost gave up, thinking the entire book was far older than its publication date.

So, an interesting read, but not the best source for current data.

A Brilliant Future for Humanity

In deeply technical and even spiritual terms this book showcases the history of where we’ve been and where we have to go

Very interesting

Very interesting book about the privatization of the space industry over the past 30 years and what it means for America's space programs.

If you like space history you'll like this book

If you like space history you'll like this book. If you don't it'll just be boring. very thorough but sometime very dry.