Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age Hardcover – September 24, 2024

In this second book on SpaceX, Berger’s focus is not so much on Elon Musk as on how the launch company developed and succeeded, with emphasis on its relationship with NASA.Berger’s prose is clear and crisp throughout the book. He knows his stuff, technically, and explains it in terms suitable for smart high schoolers on up. I didn’t see any errors in the technology sections, though I thought there were points that needed elaboration.The media narrative of SpaceX’s sometimes-difficult partnership with NASA is clarified here. NASA contracts, some of them awarded before the space agency could be certain the company could deliver, saved SpaceX from bankruptcy at least twice. Berger recounts incidents when SpaceX’s speed-first approach came back to take very expensive bites out of the company’s collective butt, also he also tells the lesser-known story of how accommodating NASA could be. NASA officials, especially Kathy Leuders, did everything possible to meld SpaceX’s way of doing things to NASA’s, maintaining the critical requirements and making re-interpretations or exceptions when warranted.SpaceX is most famous for making boosters reusable. Berger details how this wasn’t part of Musk’s original vision but was added as he and his people wrestled with long-term cost reduction. The investment cost of making a launcher reusable was not something NASA or DoD felt was worth dedicated funding. Berger writes the biggest NASA crisis came when SpaceX’s desire to “load and go” – to load the densified propellants once the astronauts were already in the Dragon to speed the process and lengthen the launch window – drew instant and near-universal negative response from NASA experts. It took dozens of safe uncrewed Falcon 9 flights and a mountain of studies and test results to get NASA to declare the concept safe.Berger explains how Musk’s greatest strength – his ability to lay out ever-grander visions and inspire people to work insane hours to make them come true – was also a weakness when dealing with NASA. Musk’s vision of a civilization on Mars was one thing: devoting SpaceX to two huge projects, the Starship vehicle to make Mars possible and the Starlink constellation to pay for it, while he had NASA work on contract, led to criticism because the company was behind on delivering the Dragon capsule for the Commercial Crew program. This after NASA Commercial Crew head Phil McAlister just barely convinced a skeptical committee that wanted to rely on Boeing that they should also give the newcomer a chance.Once Crew Dragon was flying, Musk had to sell NASA and DoD on his next vehicle, the Falcon Heavy. NASA declined to put a payload on the first flight of such a massive, innovative rocket, even for free, so Musk’s Tesla roadster went up instead. NASA was convinced, moving its Europa probe from SLS to FH at what Berger estimates was $2B in savings. The success of the NASA-SpaceX partnership helped the latter win the 2021 Artemis contract for the lunar lander. Now, Berger points out, NASA can only afford Artemis and other exploration programs because of the cost savings SpaceX provides for its non-SLS launches. The ever-dominant issue of cost will likely keep SpaceX’s leading position with NASA and military launches for a long time despite rivals like Blue Origin.Berger closes by musing on SpaceX’s indispensable strength and its biggest weakness – Musk. Musk is, to some American politicians, radioactive, and having the more diplomatic Gwynne Shotwell run SpaceX only goes so far. Musk’s image as a man singularly focused on moving humanity into the technological future and taking us to Mars was gone once he bought Twitter/X, which does none of those things and is enmeshed in a storm of controversy.The one thing Berger does not do is explore the details about how NASA/DoD and SpaceX work together on the front lines: he keeps it to the major players. The day-to-day workings of the partnership in the many locations they take place, between workers at low and mid levels, could at least have a chapter or two here.In summary, the story Berger tells about Space X and the government is one of sometimes-fractious partners who made it work. There’s no question the partnership will continue, for decades at least. It may even take us to Mars. Berger’s first-rate book is indispensable to anyone who wants to understand how that partnership was born and nurtured along with the technology to make it worth pursuing. A good photo section and an index round out the book.

I want to continue talking about space travel. I have a great book recommendation for you this morning. First, I want to introduce the author to you. Like me, in his childhood, Eric Berger was fascinated with space travel. He decided to become an astronomer. He went to the University of Texas. He earned a B.S. degree in astronomy. His next steps would have been an M.S. and a Ph. D in astronomy. He decided to take a radically different course in life. He chose a career in writing. He decided to attend the prestigious University of Missouri School of Journalism. He earned an M.A. degree. For the past 17 years, he has been the science writer for The Houston Chronicle.I first got to know Eric through his first book "Liftoff." It was the history of how Space X went from a startup to the success of the Falcon 1 rocket. I found Eric to be a great storyteller. When you pick up a book he has written, you will be entertained and enlightened. With his background in science, he was able to take very complicated technical matters and explain them in such a way that non-technical people could understand them. He also has this marvelous talent to get people to completely relax and "tell all" during the interview process.Eric has written a new book that I just finished reading. Its title is "Reentry." Here is a summary of the book:Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age Hardcover – September 24, 2024by Eric Berger (Author)4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 125 ratings4.7 on Goodreads129 ratings#1 Best Seller in Astronautics & Space FlightSee all formats and editions________________________________________USA Today BestsellerHow did a shaky startup defy expectations and become the world’s leading spaceflight company? Get the untold story of the team of game-changers, led by a well-known billionaire, who are sending NASA astronauts to space—and just might carry the human race to Mars.One company dominates the modern space industry: SpaceX, founded by controversial entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2002, now sending more payloads into orbit than the rest of the world combined. But Musk didn’t do it alone—the saga of SpaceX is the story of a diverse cadre of true believers in the limitless potential of space travel.For the first time, Reentry relates the definitive chronicle of how this daring team was able to redefine what it takes to reach the stars.With Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist Eric Berger, author of Liftoff, as your guide, you’ll accompany SpaceX’s innovative thinkers during their toughest trials and most audacious moments, including:• Creating the first orbital rockets that land by themselves and fly again• Transporting a 120-foot rocket from Texas to Florida• Recovering from a “Hell’s Bells” accident before the first Falcon Heavy launch• Frantically searching the ocean for the first rocket that splashed down intact• Identifying the $20 part that led to a rocket exploding in flight• Slicing up an engine days before it launched into spaceFrom launchpad explosions to a pernicious cricket infestation to the demanding management style of Musk himself, the rise of SpaceX was beset with challenges and far from inevitable. Find out how the startup beat the odds and flew high enough to outpace their rivals . . . and where they’re going next.This book is the fascinating history of how the Falcon 9 rocket went from being an idea in Elon Musk's head to one of the most incredible launch vehicles on planet Earth. It is the first major booster system to be reusable. NASA, Roscosmos, the European Space Agency, and the China National Space Agency (CNSA) have not been able to equal yet.This book is a page-turner that you will not be able to put down.