1/8: THERE WAS A REPORTED PUSH TO GET STARSHIP TEST #8 TO ORBIT:.Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age Hardcover – by Eric Berger (Author)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2025
⏱️ 9 minutes
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Summary
1955
https://www.amazon.com/Reentry-SpaceX-Reusable-Rockets-Launched/dp/1637745273/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
One company dominates the modern space industry: SpaceX, founded by controversial entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2002, now sending more payloads into orbit than the rest of the world combined. But Musk didn’t do it alone—the saga of SpaceX is the story of a diverse cadre of true believers in the limitless potential of space travel.
For the first time, Reentry relates the definitive chronicle of how this daring team was able to redefine what it takes to reach the stars.
With Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist Eric Berger, author of Liftoff, as your guide, you’ll accompany SpaceX’s innovative thinkers during their toughest trials and most audacious moments, including:
- Creating the first orbital rockets that land by themselves and fly again
- Transporting a 120-foot rocket from Texas to Florida
- Recovering from a “Hell’s Bells” accident before the first Falcon Heavy launch
- Frantically searching the ocean for the first rocket that splashed down intact
- Identifying the $20 part that led to a rocket exploding in flight
- Slicing up an engine days before it launched into space
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is CBS Eye on the World. |
| 0:05.0 | Here's John Batchelor. |
| 0:07.0 | Reentry, the new book by Eric Berger, |
| 0:10.0 | Senior Space Rider for Ars Technica, |
| 0:13.0 | SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the reusable rockets |
| 0:16.0 | that launched a second space age. |
| 0:19.0 | Eric, congratulations, and we go immediately to Guadalajara, Mexico. It is September |
| 0:24.5 | 2016. Elon Musk, a well-to-do success for Tesla, is speaking on his vision for SpaceX. It is surprising in that it begins to sound like the science fiction books that I bought |
| 0:39.9 | in drugstores in the 1950s and 60s. It's about Mars. What does Mr. Musk's tell the room, |
| 0:48.6 | and how do they react to the idea that he's building a space company to leave the Earth? Good evening to you. |
| 0:55.0 | Good evening, John. It's a remarkable speech. It does feel very much like science fiction. |
| 1:01.0 | He's showing pictures of these spaceships, you know, with dozens of people on their way to Mars, symphonies in space, |
| 1:09.0 | this grandiose architecture with a fully reusable massive rocket. |
| 1:14.9 | And it was remarkable because, you know, just a few weeks earlier, his rocket had blown up |
| 1:20.5 | for the second time in less than a year and a half. And so everyone was sort of thinking this |
| 1:25.2 | was pretty outlandish. |
| 1:27.8 | And so I think it was a mixture of audaciousness and optimism, to put it politely. |
| 1:36.2 | There were certainly a lot of skepticism in the space industry and even in the room around |
| 1:40.1 | the speech. |
| 1:41.1 | But at the same time, even even back then more than eight years ago |
| 1:45.1 | Musk had a very strong cult following and so it was in Mexico and there were |
| 1:49.9 | hundreds of people cheering and thronging and it was it was quite a scene what is |
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