The Space Business From Hotels in Orbit to Mining the Moon – How Private Enterprise is Transforming Space, reviewed

We look at this timely and interesting analysis of where the global commercial space industry is currently at. Written by Andrew May, The Space Business is published today, October 7th, by Icon Books. Paperback £9.99 ISBN: 9781785787454

The Space Business From Hotels in Orbit to Mining the Moon – How Private Enterprise is Transforming Space, reviewed

We are starting to see more books on this topic, and it makes sense, especially with the recent news that William Shatner is going to go up into space, with Jeff Bezos’ space operation, at the impressive age of 90. Andrew May gives some good backstory to this news, mentioning the anecdote that Richard Branson offered Shatner an expensive, and, if he had taken it, repeatedly delayed flight on his space operation.

May has a solid knowledge of what is happening, and, as much is possible in a fast moving sector, brings the story up to the very near present. This enables the reader to get a good overview of how far things have come, and that we are now, thankfully, once more, in a time of things happening quickly.

The book is timely for certain as we are now entering another period of rapid innovation and progress. It is slightly and to think that humans landed on the moon, in 1969, and then pretty much decided, after the conclusion of those missions, not to go back again. Whatever you think of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and others in terms of their other ventures, it does seem positive that they have channelled their riches into moving the needle in terms of humanity’s place in space.

May captures well the fact that both men have different interests, which are consequentially reflected in their different approaches to space flight, exploration and their goals. We enjoyed this book, and it is a thought provoking read as we move into an exciting new phase of space activity, which is an important stepping stone if we wish to become a multi planetary species.

More about The Space Business

An entertaining, in-depth look at the triumphs and heroic failures of our quixotic quest to commercialise the final frontier. Twentieth century space exploration may have belonged to state-funded giants such as NASA, but there is a parallel history which has set the template for the future. Even before Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, private companies were exploiting space via communication satellites – a sector that is seeing exponential growth in the internet age.

In human spaceflight, too, commercialisation is making itself felt. Billionaire entrepreneurs Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson have long trumpeted plans to make space travel a possibility for ordinary people and those ideas are inching ever closer to reality. At the same time, other companies plan to mine the Moon for helium-3, or asteroids for precious metals.

Science writer Andrew May takes an entertaining, in-depth look at the triumphs and heroic failures of our quixotic quest to commercialise the final frontier. This title is the latest addition to Icon Books’ Hot Science series.

Andrew May is a freelance writer and science consultant. The Space Business is his fourth book in the Hot Science series, following Destination Mars, Cosmic Impact, and Astrobiology. He lives in Somerset.

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