How to Make a Spaceship

August 1, 2016
In this sympathetic retelling of the establishment of the Ansari X Prize, for the first launch of a private reusable manned spacecraft twice within two weeks, and the race to win it, journalist and author Guthrie (The Billionaire and the Mechanic) chronicles the struggles, triumphs, and everything it took to kick-start private spaceflight. She starts with the explosives-filled childhood of entrepreneur Peter Diamandis and works in the backgrounds of several other major players, including designer and entrepreneur Burt Rutan and aviator Erik Lindbergh (grandson of Charles), illustrating how they developed the skills, connections, and passion needed to pull everything off. As she follows them and teams from different countries through triumphs, setbacks, joys, and tragedy, the stakes become very real and even financial struggles feel suspenseful and compelling. Rutan’s SpaceShipOne becomes the actual star of the relatable and easy reading narrative, and the flights are written to make readers feel like they’re experiencing them in real time, nerves and all. Unfortunately, as Guthrie details this technological achievement, she fails to address very real criticisms of privatized spaceflight (commercialization and access, privatization of military contracts, lack of transparency, etc.). Her willingness to gloss over the Randian ideology of some figures may also raise red flags for some readers. But if readers are looking for scientific discussions, humorous anecdotes, and intense action, Guthrie covers those bases. Agent: Joseph Veltre, Gersh Agency.

Engaging account of the race to get a rocket up to the Karman line without getting NASA involved.In her last book, The Billionaire and the Mechanic (2013), former San Francisco Chronicle journalist Guthrie recounted Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's quest to win the America's Cup. Here, she recounts entrepreneur Peter Diamandis' libertarian dream of taking space exploration out of the hands of government and putting it into the hands of private citizens. Of course, there's a reason government handles most space flight: it costs staggering amounts of money. Diamandis was not always wealthy, writes Guthrie, but he had been single-minded about his pursuit, blending studies in engineering and medicine while sublimating some of his other interests. "There were times when Peter longed for a girlfriend," writes the author, "and other times when he realized love would have to wait." Big-picture thinker thus secured, Guthrie's tale turns to the foot soldiers of the piece, chief among them 63-year-old test pilot Mike Melvill and his team of desert-rat mechanics, who pinned all their hopes on winning the $10 million purse that Diamandis offered for a spacecraft that could get beyond Earth's atmosphere. As Virgin Group founder Richard Branson writes in the foreword, because of Diamandis and his XPRIZE, "billions of dollars have been invested in commercializing space." Guthrie's book isn't quite up to the literary heights of Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff (1979), but it's very good. The author treats matters of scientific and technical weight with a light hand, as when she writes of how a test flight is put together--with a lot of data analysis and braking at first, then with a few passes in the "thin cushion of air inches above the runway," and then, finally, in the wild blue yonder. Just the thing for aspiring astronauts and rocketeers. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2016

Reminiscent of the author's previous title, The Billionaire and the Mechanic: How Larry Ellison and a Car Mechanic Teamed Up To Win Sailing's Greatest Race, the America's Cup, Twice, this latest from Guthrie, who worked for 20 years at the San Francisco Chronicle, is a story of technological achievement and ingenuity in the service of competition. Here, that is the XPRIZE, $10 million for the first privately funded manned vehicle to travel to space and return safely. Guthrie begins with a bit of a hagiography of entrepreneur Peter Diamandis, detailing his education and upbringing, his dream of becoming an astronaut, and his disappointment at the cautiousness of NASA's manned space program. Once he conceives of the XPRIZE, the narrative shifts to the travails of finding a sponsor and describes the international teams who set their sights on winning. The final portion of the book evolves from corporate biography into a nail-biting climax. VERDICT Many will find this offering appealing, including any who remember the awe of the moon landing or tragedies of Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters, fans of "impossible dream" biographies, and tech heads and tinkerers who are building drones from kits to experience flight on their own.--Wade M. Lee, Univ. of Toledo Lib.

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