The Space Barons cover art

The Space Barons

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos

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The Space Barons

By: Christian Davenport
Narrated by: Will Collyer
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About this listen

A "pacy, smartly reported" (Financial Times) account of the historic quest to rekindle the human exploration and colonization of space led by two rival billionaires

The Space Barons is the story of a group of billionaire entrepreneurs who are pouring their fortunes into the epic resurrection of the American space program. Nearly a half-century after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, these Space Barons – Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and Paul Allen – have founded some of the biggest brands in the world – Amazon, Microsoft, Virgin, Tesla, PayPal – and upended industry after industry. Now they are pursuing the biggest disruption of all: space.

Based on years of reporting and exclusive interviews with all four billionaires, this authoritative account is a dramatic tale of the birth of a new Space Age. Detailing the rivalry between hard-charging startups and established contractors, The Space Barons traces the personal clashes of the leaders of this new space movement, particularly Musk and Bezos, as they aim for the moon and Mars and beyond.
Aeronautics & Astronautics Astronomy & Space Science Business Business Development & Entrepreneurship New Business Enterprises Professionals & Academics Science Science & Technology Interstellar Solar System Aviation Technology Air Force

Critic Reviews

"The Space Barons by Christian Davenport, a Washington Post reporter, is an exciting narrative filled with colorful reporting and sharp insights. The book sparkles because of Davenport's access to the main players and his talent for crisp storytelling."—Walter Isaacson, New York Times Book Review
"The Space Barons is a pacy, smartly reported book on the new generation of entrepreneurs who are transforming the business of space... [The] book fizzes with some wonderful human stories of imagination and endeavor but also provides a broad sweep of the current state of the space industry."—Financial Times
"Davenport displays his reporting and storytelling skills. His writing is tight and, suitably for the subject matter, propulsive. He fleshes out the main protagonists with fine character vignettes."—The Washington Post
"Highly accessible... Davenport's access to key players, from the companies' founders to its employees, lends authority to his account."—Scientific Inquirer
"Important and revealing."—The Weekly Standard
"The Space Barons is fastidious and engrossing."—The Spectator
"Entertaining, skillfully narrated book."—The Week
"In The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos, Christian Davenport tells the backstories of the billionaires who are vying for control of the emerging NewSpace industry."—The New Yorker
"Christian Davenport has written a terrific book on the new space entrepreneurs."—Newt Gingrich
"Topping my reading list for space fans this summer is The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos, Christian Davenport's fine new book on competition in the New Space world."—Forbes.com
"In The Space Barons, Davenport lays out a compelling narrative of how Musk (SpaceX, Tesla), Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin, Amazon), Richard Branson (Virgin) and Paul Allen (Microsoft) all dreamed at an early age of the prospects of commercial space travel...Through compelling storytelling... [and] impressive research and extensive interviews."—Winnipeg Free Press
"In prose more than worthy of a staff writer at the Washington Post, Davenport glides effortlessly between biographical vignettes, engineering and financial challenges in building spacecraft, government obstacles to private space exploration, project failures and triumphs, and rivalry as 'the best rocket fuel.'"—Seeking Alpha
All stars
Most relevant
Lots of detailed content that many don't have access to. The whole tone of the book greatly captures the exciting space race of the modern times. The book itself skillfully jumps between the few space barons in their initial years and converge into one single narrative. Absolute gem!

Capturing the essence of modern space race

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Head down and plough through the line.
Good times ahead for the hard work. .

Looking out

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a chronology of everything you can see on youtube. worth the read if you have nothing else to do

good chronological article

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