Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX ― A Riveting Space Exploration History of Rocket Failures and Triumph

"A colorful page-turner." ―Walter Isaacson, New York Times Book Review

"As important a book on space as has ever been written." ―Homer Hickam, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Rocket Boys

The dramatic inside story of the historic flights that launched SpaceX―and Elon Musk―from a shaky start-up into the world’s leading-edge rocket company.

SpaceX has enjoyed a miraculous decade. Less than 20 years after its founding, it boasts the largest constellation of commercial satellites in orbit, has pioneered reusable rockets, and in 2020 became the first private company to launch human beings into orbit, a landmark moment in the history of private spaceflight. Half a century after the space race it is private companies, led by SpaceX, standing alongside NASA, pushing forward into the cosmos, and laying the foundation for our exploration of other worlds.

But before it became one of the most powerful players in the aerospace industry, SpaceX was a fledgling start-up, scrambling to develop a single workable rocket before the money ran dry. The engineering challenge was immense; numerous other private companies had failed similar attempts. And even if SpaceX succeeded, they would then have to compete for government contracts with titans such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who had tens of thousands of employees and tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. SpaceX had fewer than 200 employees and the relative pittance of $100 million in the bank.

In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company’s first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company’s inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space exploration.

Filled with never-before-told stories of SpaceX’s turbulent beginning, Liftoff is a tech startup saga of cosmic proportions.

This definitive history of SpaceX’s origins takes you inside the rocket factory to reveal:

• A Definitive Tech Biography: Go behind the scenes with Elon Musk and the core team of engineers who willed a rocket company into existence, based on dozens of exclusive interviews.
• High-Stakes Engineering: Witness the immense technical and logistical challenges of the first four Falcon 1 launches, from a Texas test ranch to a tiny, remote Pacific atoll.
• Startup Against Goliaths: Understand the incredible risks and razor-thin margins of a company with just $100 million in the bank trying to compete with aerospace titans like Boeing.
• The Birth of an Aerospace Giant: Discover the untold stories from the turbulent early days that laid the groundwork for SpaceX to pioneer reusable rockets and launch humans into orbit.

Eric Berger is a reporter and editor based in Houston. After a long career in the Houston Chronicle, he joined Ars Technica in 2015 as the site’s senior space editor, covering SpaceX, NASA, and everything beyond. He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his coverage of Hurricane Ike in the Houston Chronicle in 2008.