Liftoff
by Eric Berger · first published 2021
70% recommend20% neutral10% critical
Why HN recommends it
Employee-centered account of SpaceX's early struggle to get Falcon 1 flying, with engineering detail on rocketry and how the company nearly failed; suits space enthusiasts and anyone curious about SpaceX's culture.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The Ars Technica senior space editor chronicles the first four historic flights that launched SpaceX, describing how, after three failed attempts, the fourth flight helped transform SpaceX from a shaky startup into the world's leading edge rocket company. Less than 20 years after its founding, SpaceX 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. Berger takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of th
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I can also recommend Liftoff by Eric Berger. It chronicles the early days of SpaceX, including how the company almost failed.
on “A SpaceX booster now trails only 4 space shuttles in flight experience” ↗…people to sign up, but at current prices I think there's no way to sell enough seats to pay back the development costs of the machine. Eric Berger wrote a great book on SpaceX https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-Spac... There are a lot of government reports on the subject from the 1980-2000 range where people were considering the needs of launching for the strategic defense initiative,…
on “How come Blue Origin with earlier start with richer founder is so behind?” ↗"Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX" by Eric Berger documents how SpaceX employees poured their blood, sweat, and tears into launching a cost-effective rocket at a time when legacy…
on “Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things” ↗…their mindset), which is fine. but to say that this is "failure fetish" when spacex has an amazing track record is just hating for the sake of hating. i would recommend, if you have the time, the book liftoff, by eric berger https://www.amazon.com/Liftoff-Desperate-Early-Launched-Spac... -- it was the book that opened my eyes to why spacex works like they do.
on “Starship Flight 7” ↗Liftoff, by Eric Berger
on “Ask HN: Good books about SpaceX and New Space?” ↗…understanding of their vehicles, so a lot of discussion of the mechanics/engineering. Offtopic: Skunkworks, and Master's of Doom are two of my favourite non fiction books, and they both had a similar vibe. Liftoff (Eric Berger) was another. Can people recommend more books like this?
on “Pilot explains how he Survived Blackbird Disintegration at Mach 3.2” ↗…Origin's problem to deliver. SpaceX did not have the luxury to take ages, they had to build a working rocket to be able make money or die otherwise. I can only recommend Eric Berger's excellent book "Liftoff" to gain insights into SpaceX' way of working to get the Falcon 1 rocket off the ground and eventually into orbit. I cannot imagine Blue Origin having operated in a similar way at any point in their history.
on “Jeff Bezos loses attempt to block the Moon-landing contract NASA gave to SpaceX” ↗Liftoff[0] by Eric Berger is a great book about the early days of SpaceX that I can highly recommend. [0]: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/liftoff-eric-berger?v...
on “The red warning light on Richard Branson’s space flight” ↗Liftoff by Eric Berger. SpaceX early days from more of the perspective of the employees. Really entertaining, well written and learned a lot about rocketry. Highly recommend
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗Reentry by Eric Berger. It came out in October. It's a follow up to his book Liftoff from 2021. Great books for space nerds. Makes me really admire what Space X has accomplished while also eliminating any desire I had to work for them.
on “Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?” ↗Read Liftoff by Eric Berger about SpaceX. Musk is not an rocket engineer, but he was great at hiring engineers, motivating them, and willing to take risks in an field allergic to risk (for good reason, people die…
on “My Colleague Julius” ↗The book the show is based on / related to, When heavens went on sale (by Ashlee Vance) is well worth a read, as are Liftoff and Reentry (by Eric Berger).
on “Isar Aerospace launches Spectrum, fails early in first stage flight” ↗…faster than anyone else. I’m saying the historical trend line has that gap widening. That’s a statement of fact, no “why” involved. If you want to know the why’s I suggest reading Eric Berger’s two books Liftoff and Reentry.
on “The space bit of SpaceX is worth $8 a share, says Morgan Stanley” ↗…launch is common around the world. [1] Eric Berger, the author of this article, does a good job of painting this full picture (in fact he just wrote a great book about the early days of SpaceX called “Liftoff”), but journalists who aren’t as familiar with the industry tend to miss the picture. [2] Again see “Liftoff” by Berger.
on “Concern in Europe that the Ariane 6 and Vega-C rockets will not be competitive” ↗…guy with plans to reformulate humanity. I did fall for Musk several years ago, but then I started to read his twitter (while it still was twitter), I started to read people who knew Musk, I did read Liftoff by Eric Berger, and I became skeptical of Musk. Yeah, then I really was confused by the Musk's lack of skill of public speaking, and it took some time to learn that he never prepares to his speeches.…
on “Sam Altman doesn't care about you” ↗