THE

SPACE
BARONS
ELON MUSK, JEFF BEZOS,
AND THE QUEST TO
COLONIZE THE
COSMOS

Christian Davenport

New York

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 Copyright © 2018 by Christian Davenport

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Davenport, Christian, author.
Title: The space barons : Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the quest to colonize the
cosmos / Christian Davenport.
Description: First edition. | New York : PublicAffairs, [2018] | Includes bibli-
ographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017053089| ISBN 9781610398299 (hardcover) | ISBN
9781610398305 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Space industrialization—United States. | Industrialists—United
States—Biography. | Aerospace engineers—United States—Biography. | Bezos,
Jeffrey. | Musk, Elon. | Blue Origen (Firm) | SpaceX (Firm) | Aerospace indus-
tries—United States. | Outer space—Civilian use.
Classification: LCC TL789.85.A1 D38 2018 | DDC 338.7/6294092273 [B]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017053089

ISBNs: 978-1-61039-829-9 (hardcover); 978-1-61039-830-5 (e-book)

LSC-​C

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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 TIMELINE

September 2000 Jeff Bezos founds Blue Operations LLC, the

precursor to Blue Origin.
March 2002 Elon Musk incorporates Space Exploration
Technologies.
December 2003 First powered flight of SpaceShipOne.
December 2003 Musk shows off the Falcon 1 rocket in Washington,
DC.
September 2004 Richard Branson acquires technology behind
SpaceShipOne and vows to create the world’s first
commercial spaceline with first flights in 2007.
October 2004 SpaceShipOne wins the Ansari X Prize.
March 2005 Blue Origin flies Charon, its first test vehicle, to 316
feet.
March 2006 SpaceX attempts first launch of Falcon 1, which
fails.
August 2006 NASA awards SpaceX a $278 million contract as
part of the Commercial Orbital Transportation
Services program.
November 2006 Blue Origin launches Goddard, a test rocket, to 285
feet.
September 2008 SpaceX’s Falcon 1 successfully reaches orbit for the
first time.

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 6 Timeline

December 2008 NASA awards SpaceX a $1.6 billion contract to fly

cargo to the International Space Station.
January 2010 President Barack Obama releases NASA budget
proposal that kills the George W. Bush–era
Constellation program.
April 2010 Obama gives speech at the Kennedy Space Center
and visits with Musk at pad 40.
June 2010 First flight of the Falcon 9 launches successfully.
July 2011 NASA’s space shuttle flies for the last time, leaving
the United States with no way to launch astronauts
to space.
August 2011 Blue Origin’s PM-​2 test rocket crashes in West
Texas.
December 2011 Paul Allen announces plans to build Stratolaunch,
the largest plane ever built, which would be used to
“air launch” rockets.
May 2012 SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft becomes first
commercial vehicle to reach the International Space
Station.
March 2013 Bezos’s deep-sea expedition recovers the F-​1 engines
from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
September 2013 Tensions between SpaceX and Blue Origin heighten
over Launch Complex 39A. Musk says chances of
“unicorns dancing in the flame duct” are greater
than Bezos building a NASA-​qualified rocket that
can reach orbit.
April 2014 SpaceX sues the US Air Force over right to compete
for Pentagon launch contracts.
September 2014 SpaceX and Boeing win contracts to fly NASA
astronauts to the International Space Station.
SpaceX’s contract is worth up to $2.6 billion;
Boeing’s, $4.2 billion.
October 2014 Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo crashes in the
Mojave Desert.
April 2015 Blue Origin successfully launches New Shepard to
the edge of space for the first time.

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 Timeline 7

June 2015 Falcon 9 explodes during launch to resupply the

space station with cargo.
September 2015 Bezos announces that Blue Origin will launch its
new orbital rocket from Launch Complex 36 at
Cape Canaveral.
November 2015 New Shepard lands successfully for the first time.
December 2015 Falcon 9 lands successfully for the first time.
February 2016 Richard Branson unveils new SpaceShipTwo
spacecraft.
September 2016 Falcon 9 explodes on the launchpad during fueling.
September 2016 Musk reveals plan to get to Mars during speech at
the International Astronautical Congress.
October 2016 Blue Origin retires its first New Shepard booster
after it flies and lands for the fifth time in a row.
January 2017 Blue Origin pitches NASA on a plan to fly cargo to
the surface of the moon.
February 2017 Musk announces plan to fly two paying citizens
around the moon.
September 2017 Musk announces plan to create a base on the moon.

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 Elon Musk unveils the version of
the Dragon spacecraft designed
to fly astronauts at an event at
SpaceX’s headquarters, 2014.
Courtesy of NASA/Dimitri
Gerondidakis.

Jeff Bezos shows off Blue Origin’s crew capsule and the New Shepard booster at a
conference in Colorado Springs, 2017. Courtesy of Christian Davenport.

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 A Falcon 9 lands on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean, 2016, after
hoisting a commercial satellite to space. Courtesy of SpaceX.

A Falcon 9 booster
stage arrives at Port
Canaveral, Florida,
after landing on a ship
in the Atlantic Ocean,
2016. Courtesy of
SpaceX.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard booster launches from the company’s site in West
Texas, April 2, 2016. Courtesy of Blue Origin.

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 Brian Binnie (left), Paul Allen, and Burt Rutan stand in front of
SpaceShipOne after Binnie successfully flew the spacecraft in 2004,
winning the Ansari X Prize. Copyright © Mojave Aerospace Ventures
LLC; courtesy of Scaled Composites.

Paul Allen speaks as SpaceShipOne

goes on display at the National Air
and Space Museum, Washington, DC,
2005. Copyright © 2005, Larry Morris/
Washington Post.

Elon Musk gives President Barack

Obama a tour of SpaceX launchpad
at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,
2010. Courtesy of NASA/Bill Ingalls.

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 Lori Garver, then the NASA deputy administrator, tours Blue Origin’s facility in
2011, meeting with members of the company, including Jeff Bezos. Courtesy of
NASA/Bill Ingalls.

The SpaceX Dragon

spacecraft being released
from the International
Space Station, 2014, after
a cargo delivery mission.
Courtesy of NASA.

Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX

president and chief operating
officer, speaks in front of
launch complex 39A at the
Kennedy Space Center, 2017.
Also shown are Kennedy
Space Center director Bob
Cabana (left), and Tim Hughes,
SpaceX’s senior vice president
and general counsel (right).
Courtesy of NASA/Kim Shiflett.

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 Jeff Bezos and Buzz Aldrin at
the National Air and Space
Museum, 2016, after Bezos was
awarded the Heinlein Prize, an
honor named for the science
fiction writer that comes with a
sword. Courtesy of the Heinlein
Prize Trust.

A SpaceX Falcon 9
rocket explodes during
fueling ahead of an
engine test at Cape
Canaveral Air Force
Station, 2016. Mike
Wager/US Launch
Report.

NTSB Chairman
Christopher Hart and NTSB
investigators with Virgin
Galactic pilot Todd Ericson
after the 2014 fatal crash
of SpaceShipTwo in the
Mojave desert. Courtesy of
the NTSB.

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 Richard Branson celebrates with a giant leap while showing off Virgin Galactic’s
new SpaceShipTwo in Mojave in 2016. Courtesy of Virgin Galactic.

Richard Branson unveils the new SpaceShipTwo, dubbed Unity, at an event in

Mojave, California. Copyright © 2016, Ricky Carioti/Washington Post.

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 Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo in a glide test flight over Mojave, 2016. Courtesy
of Virgin Galactic.

Blue Origin paints a turtle, the company’s mascot, on its booster after every
launch. Courtesy of Blue Origin.

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 A model shows off SpaceX’s spacesuit.
Courtesy of SpaceX.

Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch, coming

out of its hangar in Mojave,
California, 2017, would be the
largest airplane ever flown. It is
designed to “air launch” as many
as three rockets. Copyright ©
Stratolaunch Corporation.

An artist’s rendering of what SpaceX’s BFR rocket would look like approaching
Mars. Courtesy of SpaceX.

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