{"product_id":"when-the-heavens-went-on-sale-von-ashlee-vance-2","title":"When the Heavens Went on Sale","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA momentous look at the private companies driving a revolutionary new economy in space, from the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/em\u003ebestselling author of \u003cem\u003eElon Musk\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith the launch of the Falcon 1 rocket in 2008, Elon Musk's SpaceX became the first private company to build a low-cost rocket that could reach orbit. And that milestone carried major implications: Silicon Valley, not NASA or nation states, was suddenly cemented as the epicenter of the new Space Age. Start-ups and the wealthy investors behind them began to realize that the universe?ungoverned and infinite?was open for business. Welcome to the Wild West of aerospace engineering.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhen the Heavens Went on Sale \u003c\/em\u003etells the remarkable, unfolding story of this frenzied intergalactic land grab. Through his trademark immersive reporting, Ashlee Vance follows four pioneering companies?Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs, and Rocket Lab?as they build new space systems and attempt to launch rockets and satellites into orbit by the thousands. While the public fixated on the space tourism being driven by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson, these new companies arrived with a different set of goals: to make rocket and satellite launches fast and cheap, thereby opening Earth's lower orbit for business?and setting it up as the next playing field for humankind's technological evolution, where we can connect, analyze, and monitor everything on Earth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVance has had a front-row seat and singular access to this peculiar and unprecedented moment in history. \u003cem\u003eWhen the Heavens Went on Sale\u003c\/em\u003e travels through private company headquarters, labs, and top-secret launch locations around the world, including California, Texas, Alaska, New Zealand, Ukraine, India, and French Guiana. He chronicles it all in full color: the private jets, communes, gun-toting bodyguards, drugs, espionage investigations, and multimillionaires guzzling booze to dull the pain as their fortunes disappear.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith the most detailed and intimate reporting of Vance's career, \u003cem\u003eWhen the Heavens Went on Sale \u003c\/em\u003ereveals the spectacular chaos of the new business of space, and what happens when the idealistic, ambitious minds of Silicon Valley turn their unbridled vision toward the limitless expanse of the stars. This is the most pressing and controversial technology story of our time, a tale of fascinating characters chasing unimaginable stakes as they race to space.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"aw-variant-hidden-subtitle-div\" id=\"aw-variant-subtitle-9780063320482\"\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Autorenwelt Shop","offers":[{"title":"Softcover - 9780063320482","offer_id":40608116539485,"sku":"9780063320482","price":16.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0940\/0622\/files\/6266463c-b1c3-4dde-b2b9-251a6ca32628.jpg?v=1780891275","url":"https:\/\/shop.autorenwelt.de\/en\/products\/when-the-heavens-went-on-sale-von-ashlee-vance-2","provider":"Autorenwelt Shop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}