{"product_id":"how-to-make-a-spaceship-a-band-of-renegades-an-epic-race-and-the-birth-of-private-spaceflight","title":"How to Make a Spaceship: A Band of Renegades, an Epic Race, and the Birth of Private Spaceflight","description":"A New York Times bestseller!\n\nThe historic race that reawakened the promise of manned spaceflight\n\nA Finalist for the PEN\/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award\n\nAlone in a Spartan black cockpit, test pilot Mike Melvill rocketed toward space. He had eighty seconds to exceed the speed of sound and begin the climb to a target no civilian pilot had ever reached. He might not make it back alive. If he did, he would make history as the world’s first commercial astronaut.\n\nThe spectacle defied reason, the result of a competition dreamed up by entrepreneur Peter Diamandis, whose vision for a new race to space required small teams to do what only the world’s largest governments had done before.\n\nPeter Diamandis was the son of hardworking immigrants who wanted their science prodigy to make the family proud and become a doctor. But from the age of eight, when he watched Apollo 11 land on the Moon, his singular goal was to get to space. When he realized NASA was winding down manned space flight, Diamandis set out on one of the great entrepreneurial adventure stories of our time. If the government wouldn’t send him to space, he would create a private space flight industry himself.\n\nIn the 1990s, this idea was the stuff of science fiction. Undaunted, Diamandis found inspiration in an unlikely place: the golden age of aviation. He discovered that Charles Lindbergh made his transatlantic flight to win a $25,000 prize. The flight made Lindbergh the most famous man on earth and galvanized the airline industry. Why, Diamandis thought, couldn’t the same be done for space flight?\n\nThe story of the bullet-shaped SpaceShipOne, and the other teams in the hunt, is an extraordinary tale of making the impossible possible. It is driven by outsized characters—Burt Rutan, Richard Branson, John Carmack, Paul Allen—and obsessive pursuits. In the end, as Diamandis dreamed, the result wasn’t just a victory for one team; it was the foundation for a new industry and a new age.\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 1594206724\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: BVV.1594206724.G\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Guthrie, Julian|Branson, Richard|Hawking, Stephen\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact  including the dust cover, if applicable . Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Blue Vase Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43374425866301,"sku":"BVV.1594206724.G","price":7.03,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4225\/9261\/files\/1594206724-0.jpg?v=1784590439","url":"https:\/\/www.bluevasebooks.com\/products\/how-to-make-a-spaceship-a-band-of-renegades-an-epic-race-and-the-birth-of-private-spaceflight","provider":"Blue Vase Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}