How to Build Your Own Spaceship: The Science of Personal Space Travel (Paperback)

~ Piers Bizony (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hotel magnate Robert Bigelow is developing an inflatable space station called the TransHab, where, for a mere $12 million, vacationers will be able to spend four weeks. All he needs is a space buggy to get his vacationers there. In this snappy survey of present-day rocket technology and schemes, science writer Bizony (The Rivers of Mars) tells readers where the action is. Internet entrepreneurs like AmazonÖs Jeff Bezos and Paypal founder Elon Musk are enviously regarding outer space with cool intellect and drawing up plans for spaceships. MuskÖs Falcon rocket reached space successfully, and his company plans to take satellites and other payloads into space for commercial and government customers. But not only billionaires can participate in the space race: both Bigelow and NASA are dangling prizes worth tens of millions of dollars in front of aspiring space moguls to spur creation of new technologies. BizonyÖs book is not a how-to manual with instructions for launching a rocket from the backyard. Rather, his descriptions of fuel systems and spaceship design in accessible language could inspire science buffs to take up the challenge. Illus. (July 28)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Justin Moyer If 'N Sync singer Lance Bass almost became a space tourist, why can't you? Piers Bizony, a pop-science vet who's written about Mars and the tyrannical 1960s NASA administrator James E. Webb, draws a user-friendly map of the shifting terrain of post-Apollo, post-Challenger space travel in "How to Build Your Own Spaceship." The first chapter of private space travel is already being written, wherein entrepreneurs will launch themselves and others into space. The pioneers are mostly uber-rich, such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (who's building a reusable spaceship) and Budget America hotel magnate Robert Bigelow (who has successfully tested an unmanned, orbiting suite). Bizony believes that you, the uninitiated reader, can "come up with a business scheme that can actually make space profitable," and he takes you deep into what's needed. But his lesson plan soon collapses under the weight of discussions of SSTO spacecraft, LOX vs. hypergolic fuels and, well, rocket science. Even though the unwashed masses with bank accounts under nine figures may not become aeronautical big boys in the way Bizony envisions, they can at least read about the final frontier in a book that sparkles with unquenchable enthusiasm.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Plume (July 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452295335
• ISBN-13: 978-0452295339
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #259,886 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick Read with a Look into the Future, September 14, 2009

By	dennis k "dennis k" (ellicott city,md) - See all my reviews

I liked this book. It was a fairly quick read, but provided an interesting look into what is happening with rocket development as it becomes more commercial.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Chronicle, and How-to, on the New Space Race, July 31, 2009

By	ancientexplorer (USA) - See all my reviews

For years, space exploration has suffered under year-to-year meddling of politicians and bureaucrats. It's a wonder that NASA has had any successes. But here, under the radar, private space companies are doing what government can't: Making space accessible and affordable to non-government groups and individuals. Some of these efforts may be utilized by NASA. If the new NASA regime is smart, they will let private companies use and at least partially take over the space station so it can be used to its full potential. Right now, NASA has no long-term plans for ISS very far beyond completed construction. All that money and risk can be utilized and capitalized by business. This book is part how-to and part history on the new space revolution that is brewing and can do these things I'm talking about. Perhaps the Space Age has finally arrived.