冲向火星：马斯克和 SpaceX 的初创故事

Liftoff : Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched Spacex

基本信息

Format:Paperback / softback 288 pages

Publisher:HarperCollins Publishers

Imprint:William Collins

ISBN:9780008445669

Published:2 Feb 2023

Weight:226g

Dimensions:129 x 197 x 22 (mm)

信息仅供参考，具体以实物为准

书籍简介

"一个丰富多彩的翻页书"。——沃尔特·艾萨克森，《纽约时报》书评

"有史以来重要的一本关于太空的书"。——霍默，《纽约时报》畅销书《火箭男孩》的作者。

戏剧性的内部故事，将SpaceX和埃隆·马斯克从一个摇摇欲坠的初创公司发展成为世界火箭公司的历史性飞行。

SpaceX公司经历了一个奇迹般的十年。成立不到20年，它拥有大型的在轨商业卫星群，开创了可重复使用的火箭，并在2020年成为一家将人类送入轨道的私人公司。太空竞赛半个世纪后，以SpaceX为首的私营公司与NASA并肩作战，向宇宙推进，并为我们探索其他世界奠定了基础。

但在成为航空航天业强大的参与者之一之前，SpaceX是一个刚刚起步的初创公司，在资金枯竭之前争先恐后地开发一个可行的火箭。工程上的挑战是巨大的；许多其他私营公司的类似尝试都失败了。即使SpaceX成功了，他们将不得不与洛克希德-马丁公司和波音公司等巨头竞争政府合同，后者拥有数万名员工和数百亿美元的年收入。SpaceX只有不到200名员工，银行里的资金相对较少，仅有1亿美元。

在《冲向火星》一书中，《阿斯科技》的高级太空编辑艾瑞克·伯格（Eric Berger）带领读者走进了造就SpaceX的疯狂早期。他重点介绍了该公司猎鹰1号火箭的前四次发射，描绘了该公司从一个小人物到航空航天先锋的颠簸历程。我们从位于埃尔塞贡多的公司总部，到与世隔绝的德克萨斯牧场，在那里他们进行引擎测试，再到夸贾林，这个太平洋上的小环礁，SpaceX在那里发射了猎鹰1号。伯格对SpaceX公司进行了十多年的报道，享有对该公司内部运作的无可比拟的新闻报道权。《冲向火星》是这些努力的结晶，它采用了对数十位前任和现任工程师、设计师、机械师和高管的采访，包括埃隆·马斯克。神秘的马斯克以有朝一日定居火星的梦想创立了公司，他对未来太空的大胆设想是推动本书的燃料。

《冲向火星》充满了SpaceX公司动荡的开始时从未被提及的故事，是一个具有宇宙规模的传奇故事。

“A colorful page-turner.” —Walter Isaacson, New York Times Book Review

“As important a book on space as has ever been written.” —Homer Hickam, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Rocket Boys

The dramatic inside story of the historic flights that launched SpaceX—and Elon Musk—from a shaky start-up into the world’s leading-edge rocket company.

SpaceX has enjoyed a miraculous decade. Less than 20 years after its founding, it boasts the largest constellation of commercial satellites in orbit, has pioneered reusable rockets, and in 2020 became the first private company to launch human beings into orbit. Half a century after the space race it is private companies, led by SpaceX, standing alongside NASA, pushing forward into the cosmos, and laying the foundation for our exploration of other worlds.

But before it became one of the most powerful players in the aerospace industry, SpaceX was a fledgling start-up, scrambling to develop a single workable rocket before the money ran dry. The engineering challenge was immense; numerous other private companies had failed similar attempts. And even if SpaceX succeeded, they would then have to compete for government contracts with titans such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who had tens of thousands of employees and tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. SpaceX had fewer than 200 employees and the relative pittance of $100 million in the bank.

In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company’s first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company’s inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

Filled with never-before-told stories of SpaceX’s turbulent beginning, Liftoff is a saga of cosmic proportions.

作者简介

艾瑞克·伯格（Eric Berger），专注于航天业报道的资深记者，采访过包括 NASA 在内的众多行业巨头，以及阿波罗计划宇航员奥尔德林等重要人物。曾获得美国国家太空协会的太空先锋奖，入围普利策奖决选名单。自2015年开始报道 SpaceX，得到马斯克亲自授权，采访过所有重要员工，以获得的大量一手资料写成《冲向火星》。

Eric Berger is a reporter and editor based in Houston. After a long career in the Houston Chronicle, he joined Ars Technica in 2015 as the site’s senior space editor, covering SpaceX, NASA, and everything beyond. He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his coverage of Hurricane Ike in the Houston Chronicle in 2008.