冲向火星 – Liftoff by Eric Berger

这是对埃隆·马斯克和 SpaceX 公司初创时期艰难岁月的记录。跟马斯克一起工作是什么体验？本书讲述了36位初创成员与他共同疯魔、此生难忘的飞天故事。

2000年年底某天，29岁的埃隆·马斯克和好友阿迪奥·菜西聊创业时，说到自己一直对太空有兴趣。当晚他翻遍美国宇航局官网，发现美国航天业在阿波罗登月后毫无作为。马斯克决定为这个行业带来突破——他要去火星，就从造火箭开始。

2002年5月6日，SpaceX 成立。马斯克投入1亿美元，能支持三次火箭发射。公司官网上写着：“我们正在寻找全世界的人才，以解决具有挑战性的项目，最终实现人类成为跨行星物种的目标。”业内无人看好，就连最初加入团队的几位高管也不真的相信马斯克能造出火箭。

2008年8月3日，第三次发射失败，资金耗尽。就在这样的时刻，马新克和团队用仅剩的零件组装好最后一枚火箭，进行了第四次发射。

In 2006, SpaceX – a brand-new venture with fewer than 200 employees – rolled its first, single-engine rocket onto a launch pad at Kwajalein Atoll. After a groundbreaking launch from the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the Falcon 1 rocket designed by Elon Musk’s engineers rose in the air for approximately 30 seconds. Then, its engine flamed out, and the rocket crashed back into the ocean. 

In 2007, SpaceX undertook a second launch. This time, the rocket rose far into space, but just before reaching orbit it spun out of control. Confident of success in 2008, Musk and his team launched their third rocket with several paying customers. The first stage executed perfectly, but instead of falling away, it thudded into the second stage. Another failure. Elon Musk had only budgeted for three attempts when he founded SpaceX. 

Out of money and with a single Falcon 1 rocket left in its factory, SpaceX decided to try one last, dramatic launch. Over eight weeks, engineers worked furiously to prepare this final rocket. The fate of Musk’s venture mirrored the trajectory of this slender, single-engine rocket aimed toward the skies. If it crashed and burned, so would SpaceX. In September 2008, SpaceX’s last chance for success lifted off…and accelerated like a dream, soaring into orbit flawlessly. 

That success would launch a miraculous decade for the company, in which SpaceX grew from building a single-engine rocket to one with a staggering 27 engines; created two different spacecraft, and mastered reusable-rocket descents using mobile drone ships on the open seas. It marked a level of production and achievement that has not been seen since the space race of the 1960s. 

But these achievements would not have been possible without SpaceX’s first four flight tests. Drawing on unparalleled access and exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current employees – engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk – Eric Berger tells the complete story of this foundational generation that transformed SpaceX into the world’s leading space company.