SPACEPORT EARTH

• Timely book documents a fundamental shift in the history of spaceflight: Spaceport Earth reviews the state of spaceflight at a crucial juncture in the industry's history, when government-sponsored projects are being pushed aside by commercial ventures like Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin.

• Up-to-date, with new material added in paperback: A new chapter details recent SpaceX Falcon launches, news of the first civilian to buy a ticket to outer space, and President Trump's proposed Space Task Force.

• Reveals the nature of navigating this frontier filled with life-or-death stakes: Details include launchpad explosions, spaceport rivalries, and the biggest names in private and commercial spaceflight.

It's the 21st-century and everything about the space industry is changing. Rather than despair over the end of American manned missions and a moribund commercial launch market, private sector companies are now changing the way humanity accesses orbit. Upstarts including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin are building a dizzying array of new spacecraft and rockets, not just for government use, but for any paying customer. At the heart of this space revolution are spaceports, the center and literal launching pads of spaceflight. Spaceports cost hundreds of millions of dollars, face extreme competition, and host operations that do not tolerate failures-which can often be fatal.

Aerospace journalist Joe Pappalardo has witnessed space rocket launches around the world, from the jungle of French Guiana to the coastline of California. In his comprehensive work Spaceport Earth, Pappalardo describes the rise of private companies in the United States and how they are reshaping the way the world is using space for industry and science. Spaceport Earth is a travelogue through modern space history as it is being made, offering space enthusiasts, futurists, and technology buffs a close perspective of rockets and launch sites, and chronicling the stories of industrial titans, engineers, government officials, billionaires, schemers, and politicians who are redefining what it means for humans to be a spacefaring species.

Joe Pappalardo is a contributing editor at Popular Mechanics. His work has also appeared in Smithsonian Air & Space, Esquire.com, Time magazine, American Way, and Mental Floss, and he has appeared on the History Channel, the Science Channel, C-SPAN, CNN, Fox News Channel, and The John Batchelor Show.

Praise for Spaceport Earth

“Private companies and rich people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have taken over the exploration of space. Pappalardo explores this new sort of spacefaring at the outer reaches of business and technology.”
—The New York Times ("New and Noteworthy")

“Pappalardo embarks on a journey across America - and to select launchpads around the world - to chronicle how commercial players are turning spaceflight into an even more exciting enterprise . . . [Spaceport Earth] shows that the United States did not stop innovating after the space shuttle program.”
—Space.com

“Spaceport Earth tackles the ever-changing, 21st-century space industry and what privately funded projects like Elon Musk's SpaceX mean for the future of space travel.”
—Foreign Policy

“It might seem like there's a rocket launch every day now, but in the not-so-distant future the tempo of blastoffs could increase even more. In Spaceport Earth, Joe Pappalardo takes us to future launchpads around the world, showing us how spaceports are being built to launch us into the stars.”
—Popular Science

“When the last space shuttle launched in 2011, it marked what many believed was the end of human flights into space. However, Joe Pappalardo suggests in Spaceport Earth the end is nowhere in sight . . . a detailed account of the new leaders in the space industry. ”
—Shelf Awareness

“The author's engaging style and clear explanations of the technology and processes that are involved in the exciting world of commercial spaceflight will delight space buffs, technology enthusiasts, and the general science reader.”
—Library Journal

“Joe Pappalardo has done a service to those who wonder what exactly we have been doing in space since the end of the Space Shuttle era. He travels to he strange sites carved out of jungles and deserts to meet the starry-eyed investors and engineers hoping to create a second great space age. Through scrubs and explosions, big talk and real breakthroughs, he shows us where we are now-with human launches from American soil still tantalizingly just over the next horizon.”
—Margaret Lazarus Dean, author of Leaving Orbit and The Time It Takes to Fall

“A fresh look at where we are here, at the end of the second decade of the twenty-first century as the United States leads the world in what will be a tremendous commercial success . . . [Spaceport Earth] is a wonderful, helpful book.”
—The John Batchelor Show

“Joe Pappalardo takes the reader on a tour of these [commercial spaceport] facilities, and the advances and setbacks they've faced. It's a good introduction for those new to the field, but it's also a fine read for those familiar with the commercial spaceflight industry. . . Pappalardo has an eye for local color that shines in the book as he describes the places that have or are seeking spaceports and the people who live there . . . Readers of Spaceport Earth will get a good flavor of the development of spaceports and the rise of a commercial launch industry.”
—The Space Review