Two on New Space
I was in aerospace long enough to witness a few rounds of the cost reduction charade. Here is how it works. Every decade or so, the Pentagon insists that their aerospace suppliers reduce costs. Congressmen get in the act, complaining of $5,000 toilet seats and $1,000 wrenches. Defense procurement officials give speeches in which they all but threaten to hold their breath until they turn blue. The industry responds by saying the right things, cutting the prices of a few minor items, and promising to do better. Eventually the whole thing blows over and business proceeds as usual. In other words, the industry was ripe for disruption. Elon Musk disrupted it. Two books, Christian Davenport’s The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos, and Eric Berger, Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX , are engaging and well-written tales of the “New Space” business that also...