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

Liftoff tells the story of the early days at SpaceX (founding through 2008), in the form of a narrative timeline of key events as described by those involved. The author had an unusual level of access to Musk and other key early players, which allowed him to collect the unique material for this book; to my knowledge most of this has never been published. Of course one can wonder, as with any eyewitness account, to what extent events have been sanitized. The story does include plenty of personality conflicts and hard life decisions (and burnout) so it doesn't read like corporate PR. Some reviewers here ding the book for not being more comprehensive. I take the book as intended, which is a set of stories from insiders, put into a readable format. It's not intended to be a comprehensive look at the space industry, or Elon Musk, or even necessarily SpaceX. Nor does the author try to frame these stories into broad lessons for why companies succeed, or what makes a great leader; it's up to the reader to draw their own conclusions. A few things that jumped out at me were: (1) how close SpaceX came to running out of money in 2008, and the pivotal role NASA played in extending them a lifeline at critical junctures (which underscores the positive role that NASA, DARPA, the Air Force, and other public agencies can play in stimulating private enterprise), and (2) the singular personality of Elon Musk, which the insiders interviewed here all credit for their success due to his vision, hands-on engineering approach, decisiveness, knack for hiring talent, and drive for results. Liftoff for me was a fun, exciting read--a ripping yarn as they say--and I learned a lot. Mission accomplished.

Even if you are not a rocket / space nerd, Liftoff is a must read. The odyssey of Elon Musk shows how one man can change the world in a profound way. SpaceX and its brilliant hard-working employees, inspired by a genius with a vision, took on the world’s aerospace giants and state-run corporations and won. Doing what everyone told Elon was impossible, in a landscape littered with bankrupt companies that came before, Elon recruited some of the world’s best engineers to work until they dropped inspired by a common dream of the future. Eric Berger presents this beautifully written saga where grit, engineering brilliance and youthful exuberance overcame the near impossible task of starting a rocket company and then competing with established giants like Lockheed and Boeing and the European Space Agency and Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities. This is the story of the early days of SpaceX where failure was all but assured. Industry, customers, and governments first ignored them until success was possible than actively tried to sabotage their success. NASA and DARPA fed SpaceX lifesaving seed money when it appeared to their ultimate advantage. It was a near thing the survival of SpaceX and eventually it not only disrupted the industry but the world. Everyone ought to know the story.

Here it is well over 10 years since SpaceX became a household word. Many of us followed the several companies vying to become launch providers for NASA under the COTS program established by the George W. Bush administration to help "privatize" commercial spaceflight. There were a good handful of them. Only one would succeed. This book details the early years of SpaceX, the trials and tribulations they encountered as they tried to do what some said was impossible without having 4000 employees and the backing of billions from the U.S. government. Yet, SpaceX triumphed through all that to become our main "go to" launch provider for lowering costs. This book details the ins and outs of those early days, and how they nearly failed. It is a good read and provides a great background to how a company can be run to be successful despite the huge odds against them.

As a huge fan of SpaceX I was eager to read the history of the early days and learn more about the people who made this possible. The detail on the early days is terrific and exactly what I wanted but after the fourth Falcon 1 launch everything was just rushed through. I think the author would have been better off leaving that for the next book instead of giving it such short shrift. BUT, the story telling is great and it was a pleasant read.

The company which chsnged rockets. This is all about the early days of how the conpany started and finally succeeded in successfully launching Falcon 1. The same author has written Reentry which covers the Falcon 9 story. You learn about the people,the hard work, the highs and lows which have changed things for the world Not the faster, better, cheaper failures of ZZZNASA in the 1990s, but the better way, cheaper and faster of Musk and SpaceX. Well worth reading and learning about a Yes, it can be done approach to things.

Why? I don’t even know where to begin. Because I am shook with awe and excitement and sympathy and empathy of the things that have transpired on multiple fronts since the dawn of the SpaceX founding. This story explores the incredible timeline and effort and resources and sacrifices and terrifying ordeals and emotions that so many remarkable individuals had made and given to make the ever-old dream of reaching the Heavens. What SpaceX has achieved for Humanity! Is nothing short of incredible incredible incredible. That is the most simplified statement I can make to summarise the entirety of what has been achieved thus far. I am glad that there is a most accessible story of what it took to make the strides that; in my opinion, is akin to landing humanity on the moon. What you ‘must’ understand in all levels of this, is that rocket science is bloody hard. And founding and sustaining a space company is even more hard. From the get go SpaceX and its team have faced obstacle after obstacle with overwhelming forces that, by all odds, made the any success a near impossibility. Yet the team described in this story proved that with great focus and an unencumbered tenacity to push forward, that they can make a stand and shake systems to their core. As you may tell, I am an avid advocate for space exploration, and indeed, Musk’s ventures to further the progress of Humanity. I can only imagine that the sky’s the limit, nay, that the solar system and beyond; is the limit for this collective of thoughtful and committed citizens of the world. Whatever your thoughts on Musk himself or even the company, I highly recommend this story of the origin story of SpaceX. As it alludes also to many themes, including: what it means to be on the edge of bleeding progress and what it costs in everything non-monetary.

Contains lots of interesting stories of the early SpaceX days. The book includes descriptions and stories of the early company members. Very entertaining book.

Si no tienes problemas con el idioma, el testimonio de Berger resulta muy ilustrativo de la vida durante los primeros días de una de las empresas más revolucionarias de los últimos años. Es interesante ver no sólo como a medida que los proyectos se escalan también se escalan los problemas y las ingeniosas formas de solucionar uno tras otro. Narrativamente es poderoso y está bien escrito de forma que el hilo temporal se mantiene y en ocasiones se siente como leer una novela. Gran obra.

Super livre qui retrace les premières années de SpaceX. E. Musk à failli y laisser sa chemise tant les défis à relever étaient énormes. Au delà de l’histoire, c’est aussi des principes de management intéressants.