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Making Space Happen: Private Space Ventures and the Visionaries Behind Them

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"Making space happen" is for me a phrase that conjures up visions of the world as portrayed in "2001: A Space Odyssey". But of course the world portrayed in that 1968 film -- one with routine space travel -- has not come to pass. Now, 45 years beyond our first, tentative journeys into space, that situation begs the question: Why not?

Paula Berinstein's book is a valuable component of the answer to that question. One reason is that Ms. Berinstein understands business and finance. Indeed, she makes her living advising others on business ventures. For this book (her sixth), she spent three years researching the economics of such ventures as tourism in space, and interviewing many of the movers and shakers in this burgeoning, but largely unnoticed, area.

Its publication is well-timed, for today the biggest barriers to getting into space are not technical ones; they are political and economic ones. This is why business sense is the important asset. Good businessmen with an interest in space -- space entrepreneurs -- are not so common as the techies; but they do exist. This book profiles a number of them, revealing that while getting into space is no cakewalk, it need not be as difficult as the powers that be maintain. One example is the chapter on Jim Benson. He took a look at NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission, with its $250 million price tag, and decided it could be done a lot cheaper by the private sector. A feasibility study done in 1997 by industry experts confirmed that $25 million would do it. An order-of-magnitude cost reduction is not bad. (And note that this is with the existing stable of launch vehicles -- themselves much more expensive than they might be.)

Each chapter deals with one aspect of the problem (human health in microgravity, funding space ventures, insurance, laws, etc.) and profiles an individual or team of individuals actively working in that area. Those profiles include generous portions of the interviews with the subjects. Along with these interviews, some surprisingly candid, come cogent discussions of the relevant issues, supported where applicable by numbers. At the end of each chapter, Ms. Berinstein gives her own opinion of the facts and views just presented. These opinions reflect her admitted bias in favor of routine space travel, but are often skeptical about specific points.

Following the 20 chapters and an epilog on Dennis Tito, there are four appendices that go into greater detail about space tourism market issues, market surveys, regulatory issues, and propulsion. A bibliography, a glossary, a biographical sketch of the author, and a very thorough index round out the book. There are also 29 color and three black-and-white plates, many from photogrpahs taken by Ms. Berinstein herself.

I'd say this very readable book is a worthwhile introduction to some people who, relatively obscure today, might be making us all sit up and take notice in just a few years.

Making Space Happen fills an important void in the dialog and literature on space exploration, exploitation and the future. Reading the visions and realizing how much is underway to achieve dramatic new breakthroughs is exhilarating. Telling these stories by bringing the cast of characters from out of the mainstream fully into the discussion provides many new insights -- and with solid credibility.

I learned an awful lot about some important and exciting initiatives I'd not been aware of -- though I consider myself a fairly serious student of space development and space issues. My assessment is that the two segments of the space industry -- the mainstream and these entrepreneurs in the Making Space Happen story -- have significant voids in their understanding of one another. This book can address one side of that imbalance -- if it is embraced by the mainstream.

I am impressed with how Paula Berninstein has been able to jump into such a complex field as space and in a very short time, capture so broadly and comprehensively the essence of today's challenges in space exploration. It's not that governments -- and particularly the U.S. -- have not "made space happen" in the past 4-5 decades nor realistically that governments ever will be out of the equation. However, her marvelous research and presentation has reinforced my firm conviction that it will ultimately be the private sector lead by entrepreneurs who, through space exploitation, will force the acceleration of space activities and bring the benefits of space finally back down to Earth in a substantial way.

Paula has taken a segment of the rapidly growing space industry that has been largely ignored by all the space "high-rollers" and put it on the map. It's disappointed me in the past to see senior "aerospace industry leaders" ignore and even belittle the creative thinkers and free-spirits who are suggesting unconventional approaches to long-standing space challenges. If these leaders had all the answers, the challenges would not remain so fundamental as high costs of getting to space and generating healthy return on investments -- from other than public coffers. NASA and the aerospace industry personify the bureaucratic approach to space exploration and real breakthroughs and progress will only come with the high-risk, creative directions such as those she's chosen to describe in this book.

Tom Rogers, for example, is one of the best thinkers of our time with regard to space tourism and the potential impact this new industry can have on our capability to get to space. He also has been justifiably critical of how the billions in public resources have been applied to advancing human presence in space. For this, he has not been well received by the establishment. Well, the establishment and all thinking people need to hear what Tom Rogers and the others in this very informative book have to say -- and moreover what they are actually doing to change the future. Then maybe the two segments of the space business will figure out how to cooperate and together make the next great leaps in space really happen.

So just because I am one of the visionaries in the book, it does not mean that I can't be impressed with the dedication Paula has shown in tracking down all of the players and getting us to discuss our projects in language that earthlings can understand.

I promise anybody who believes that mankind's destiny is in space that this book will bring you as close as you can get to the people who are making space happen without having to start your own space venture.

Ad Astra. See you on the Moon.

This is a great book for long time space enthusiasts as well as those who have just caught the space bug.

This isn't a book about NASA or its programs, though she does discuss them. This is about private citizens who are trying to make space accessible to you and me.

She brings most of the players (individuals and organizations) into this book and what the current burning issues are. There are some people that I wish she would put into the book but this is a very minor quibble.

Her book is an easy read. It doesn't get bogged down in technobabble. She lets the people profiled in this speak themselves through long interviews.

The statistics and data she presents are well placed thus not becoming a distraction or interrupting the flow of reading the book.

There are some people that I didn't know even though I keep up to date on private endeavors. She also brings people in other countries who are involved in private space efforts which is good. We need to know more about what's going on in other nations and what their attitudes are regarding private space efforts and opinions on space generally.

This is a very informative book. She's fair and balance presenting the pros and cons of what it takes for private citizens to get into space.

She presents her opinions at the end of most chapters in a section clearly highlighted as opinion. Her book has helped me crystallized some half form opinions about some of the individuals and organizations that are involved in private space efforts.

If you're interested in who's making things happen space for us and what their technology, plans, and goals are, this is the book.

Good job, Paula!

Making Space Happen: Private Space Ventures And The Visionaries Behind Them by Paula Berinstein is an amazing and epic account of private citizens who have dared to explore beyond Earth's horizons. Complex issues of law, ethics, government, and environment make such individual operations tangled and difficult to pull off. Drawn from three years of meticulous research and interviews, here are the incredible, true stories of the men and women who achieved the unthinkable. Making Space Happen is enthusiastically recommended reading for anyone with an interest in the emerging fields of space travel and tourism, as well as an invaluable addition to school and community library Science History collections.

So much has happened since this book was written. The Space Shuttle Columbia, sadly, was lost on reentry. Scaled Composites won the X-Prize. The X-prize organizers founded the Rocket Racing League (RRL). These are major power quakes in the space field. You'd think Berinstein's book would now be hopelessly out of date. Not so.

In these pages, you'll find the back story behind many of the ideas and personalities driving private space activity today. The interviews are really insightful, and the author profiles just about everybody: Buzz Aldrin, Jim Benson (whose SpaceDev built the engines for Scaled Composites's X-prize winning flights), Peter Diamandis (X-prize and RRL founder), Prof. John Lewis (asteroid expert and author of Mining the Sky), Denis Tito (first private space traveler), Robert Zubrin (author, The Case for Mars) and many more. She lets everyone tell their own story, then provides her own viewpoint, which is sometimes slightly critical (though for truly deep criticism, see Weil's "They All Laughed at Christopher Columbus" or Benjamin's "Rocket Dreams").

Berenstein does leave out a few important figures, such as hotelier Robert Bigelow and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. But it was not for lack of trying. Bezos is still keeping mum about his secret rocket company (Blue Origin) and Bigelow wasn't talking much about his inflatable space stations in 2002.

Berenstein's book sets the stage for today's flurry of activity in private space. If you want a good introduction to the people behind it, this is a great place to start.

This is a good survey book for getting up to speed on what's happening in private space development. It's quite exciting to see all the different activities currently happening with private space.

Berinstein covers many different bases. She talks to people inside and outside of NASA and the aerospace establishment, and people from countries other than the US and Russia. She covers politics, with Charles Miller's Prospace organization. She discusses a wide variety of private space efforts, including the Space Frontier Foundation, the Mars and Moon societies, Applied Space Resources, and Spacedev. She also delves into less technical subjects such as ethics, philosophy and property rights.

Some of the most interesting parts of the book are on the history of private space through the post-Apollo letdown of the 70's and 80's. Some recent successes have been many years in the making, in particular NASA's recent friendliness to private space.

It's also fascinating to see the personal histories of space activists. Knowing what Peter Diamandis, Rick Tumlinson, Jim Benson and others have been up to for the last 10 or 20 years makes them all the more interesting, and in some cases inspiring.

My only qualm with the book would be that Berinstein sometimes gets off on tangents, or poses lots of open-ended questions. She does a fairly detailed analysis showing that women are underrepresented in space, and technical fields in general. An important subject, but this is hardly news, and it seemed to distract from the focus of the book.

As of Jan 2005, the book has become somewhat dated. Sometimes in pleasant ways, as with Scaled Composites' X prize win. I'm also unable to find any current info on google about Applied Space Resources, a company featured prominently in the book.

Aside from a couple minor qualms, this is an expansive book, one that makes it easy to get excited about the opportunities for private space. A good jumping-off point for getting more involved in this area.

Most equate space exploration with NASA, but there are many privately funded efforts to develop space for more commercial purposes, and Making Space Happen probes these private space projects. From ideas for space hotels and craft to longterm effects of space settlements on the Moon, Making Space Happen is packed with not just projects and ideas, but insights on accompanying legal and ethical issues.