The Space Barons

Christian Davenport

Overview: The Space Barons is a journalistic account of successful entrepreneurs turning their intellectual and economic resources toward space travel. The central theme pits these men against each other—and against the military-industrial complex that monopolized manned and unmanned flight outside the planet’s atmosphere. The setting for Davenport’s story is well known: the termination of the US shuttle program, the reliance upon Russia for access to the International Space Station, the promise of the Apollo program fading into distant memory, and the evolution of digital computing and the internet. Thus, for Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson, the conditions seem ripe for supplementing, or even replacing, the national space program with the logic of free-market capitalism. After all, these so-called barons have built their fortunes and reputations on shrewdly applying new technology to emerging markets. The book chronicles how their efforts to do the same in space, decades in the making, are starting to pay off.

Given the recent national dialogue on an independent military service for space, Davenport’s book is quite timely. Any force operating in the “ultimate high ground” must already navigate a constellation of organizations that is much more diverse and dynamic than in the past. The Space Barons is a useful and entertaining introduction to this subject, full of vignettes about scrappy ways they cut costs and their numerous close calls. Because Davenport jumps back and forth between the main characters, instead of a chapter-by-chapter summary what follows are the main themes he touches on throughout the work and questions to ponder. The most value in Davenport’s easy to read book, however, is less in the factual information and found more in the debates it should inspire.

• Elon Musk and his company SpaceX receive more attention than the others, perhaps because he has been the boldest—as in planning to colonize Mars—and the most bombastic. For example, Musk repeatedly berated the federal government for obstructing free competition. Yet, at the same time, his endeavor increasingly benefited from support inside of NASA and the White House, the industrial infrastructure and human capital cultivated by the federal government, and valuable contracts with the same agencies he brought to court in the past. What is the role of the federal government and the USAF in encouraging radical innovation? Does it differ based on the industry or with the maturity of a field? Are the changes in industry-government relations a reflection of globalization and the rising importance of non-state actors?
• Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon and the owner of Blue Origins, gets the next most attention. The author’s judgment is reserved, perhaps because Davenport works for a newspaper owned by Bezos, but the reader once again gets some insight in the entrepreneur’s motivations and philosophy. In a sharp contrast to Musk’s aggressiveness, his approach to space travel is slow, incremental, and carefully guarded. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy, and does it make a difference whether the goal is revolutionary change or simply evolutionary improvements? Is the space enterprise better for having both types?
• Sir Richard Branson is well known as the owner of Virgin branded businesses, including travel, entertainment, and hospitality investments. The vision for his Virgin Galactic enterprise is, fitting with his personal and corporate image, more about adventure and luxury than launching satellites. How often is innovation more than an engineering accomplishment? What is the role of public relations and narratives? Does the USAF have a responsibility for generating excitement about space, and if so, for which audiences?
• The three main characters all are voracious consumers of information, often teaching themselves the intricacies of rocket science. Yet, does this narrative exaggerate the role of the individual? Does it contribute to the largely debunked “great man theory” of historical change, or the equally flawed notion of the lone “heroic inventor?”
• References to science fiction occur throughout the book, including names of programs and childhood inspirations for the main characters. Is this just literary flourish? Are such works only useful for encouraging imagination or can we learn tactical and strategic lessons from the concept known as “science fiction prototyping”?
• The Spare Barons is full of analogies, starting with the title itself. Any reference to British nobility or to the ruthless industrialists of the late 1800s known as “robber barons,” however, is largely implicit. The analogy Davenport and his characters come back to repeatedly is aviation. The space program seems to mirror the frontier atmosphere of early manned flight, with its sense of adventure and danger. The analogy is not perfect, however. The government led the way into space, not independent inventors. Flying quickly became cheap, reliable, and accessible, but space travel has not (see p158 for statistics). In what other areas do these domains diverge? Organizationally, if aviation needed its own independent military service to prosper, does that necessarily mean a space force requires the same?