When the Heavens Went on Sale
by Ashlee Vance · first published 2022
10mentions
5recommended by
9HN commenters
2023–2026first – last mentioned
56% recommend44% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Profiles of the newer space startups such as Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs and Rocket Lab, covering their early days and business stories; a good pick for readers who like entrepreneurial accounts beyond SpaceX.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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For those interested, just read a great book on this topic: When the Heavens Went on Sale by Ashlee Vance: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62050244-when-the-heaven... It profiles: Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs, and Rocket Lab
on “India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on dramatic debut launch” ↗…and water. Now that it looks like human population is peaking, there's not much pressure to inhabit low-value real estate. Space travel belongs to machines. Small ones. Read Ashlee Vance's new book, "When the Heavens Went on Sale". All the action now is in small satellites and small to medium sized rockets. If and when Space-X gets its Starship working, it may turn out to be a white elephant, like the Space Shuttle. There just…
on “Short Film: "One Revolution per Minute"” ↗If you want more entrepreneurial type stories. When the heavens went on sale, by Ashly Vance, is pretty good. It details the early days of the space start-ups other than spaceX The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley is also pretty good,…
on “Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things” ↗…had success with Starlink, Astra promised to have an even better global internet. Having a good story was more the priority then having good engineering and good execution. This book is a good read: "When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach" Its about Planet, Astra, RocketLab and Firefly. Book doesn't make the Astra CEO look great.
on “After Astra loses 99 percent of its value, founders take rocket firm private” ↗…scamy, their market projections were wild. Many other rocket companies were doing the same thing at the time. So this was really a thing that was all over the industry. If you want to learn more: > When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach This is a great book about many rocket startups. The journalist was deeply embedded in Astra and tells lots of good stories. Its also about…
on “Astra, low on cash, defaults on loan” ↗It's related. If you have a working factory, data collection and optimization can make it better. If you have a vacant lot and money, that's a different problem. I'm reading Ashlee Vance’s “When the Heavens Went on Sale”. This describes most of the smaller space launch startups, which he visited at length, including the launch sites in Outer Nowhere. Each of them had to start manufacturing rockets from nothing. How…
on “American Labor’s Real Problem: It Isn’t Productive Enough” ↗According to Ashlee Vance's "When The Heavens Went On Sale" this was the inspiration for Astra (the book links to this same article in the relevant chapter). The company hoped to produce and launch >300 rockets a year without re-use. The goal was to get economy…
on “A rocket a day keeps the high costs away (1993)” ↗…avoiding failure. 24. The Big Short by Michael Lewis - 2008 financial crisis. 25. The Box by Marc Levinson - Shipping container revolution. 26. Latitude by Nicholas Crane - Cartography innovations. 27. When the Heavens Went on Sale by Ashlee Vance - Space startups. 28. The Founders by Jimmy Soni - PayPal's early days. 29. The Perfectionists by Simon Winchester - Precision engineering. 30. The Little Engine That Could - Children's…
on “Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things” ↗…SLS and Vulcan, and just posted a similar response before seeing yours:) Yeah, not sure how people can say rockets are easy, still extremely dangerous and difficult. ... and Will have to check out "When the Heavens Went on Sale." Recently, read "Lift Off: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX." Truly interesting and showed how so much of Falcon 1's development was touch and go, with tons of technical, political…
on “After Astra loses 99 percent of its value, founders take rocket firm private” ↗I see you didn’t pay attention to what I did and did not say in my original comment. I’ve read a biography of him and When The Heavens Went On Sale, which covers SpaceX. What you’re claiming about him is completely wrong and completely ignorant. I know you haven’t actually read anything substantial about him, because if you had you’d be fully aware…
on “SpaceXAI's Grok 4.6 Scores 61 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index” ↗