6/8: THERE WAS A REPORTED PUSH TO GET STARSHIP TEST #8 TO ORBIT:.Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age Hardcover – by Eric Berger (Author)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.6 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
1958
https://www.amazon.com/Reentry-SpaceX-Reusable-Rockets-Launched/dp/1637745273/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
One company dominates the modern space industry: SpaceX, founded by controversial entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2002, now sending more payloads into orbit than the rest of the world combined. But Musk didn’t do it alone—the saga of SpaceX is the story of a diverse cadre of true believers in the limitless potential of space travel.
For the first time, Reentry relates the definitive chronicle of how this daring team was able to redefine what it takes to reach the stars.
With Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist Eric Berger, author of Liftoff, as your guide, you’ll accompany SpaceX’s innovative thinkers during their toughest trials and most audacious moments, including:
- Creating the first orbital rockets that land by themselves and fly again
- Transporting a 120-foot rocket from Texas to Florida
- Recovering from a “Hell’s Bells” accident before the first Falcon Heavy launch
- Frantically searching the ocean for the first rocket that splashed down intact
- Identifying the $20 part that led to a rocket exploding in flight
- Slicing up an engine days before it launched into space
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I'm John Dutcher with Eric Berger, a second space age. |
| 0:06.0 | That's the idea. |
| 0:07.0 | But Mars is the vision that Elon Musk has. |
| 0:10.0 | In order to get there, however, the book is reentry, SpaceX-Evon Musk, and the reusable rockets. |
| 0:16.0 | Reusable is fine, but you've got to make money. |
| 0:19.0 | And there are visions of constellations of satellites in low Earth orbit that can provide cell tower for everyone |
| 0:29.8 | or the ability to connect with the Internet, no matter where you are on the planet Earth. |
| 0:36.3 | Eric and I are conducting this conversation |
| 0:38.5 | on Starlink. I've had it on my roof for about a year. It works perfectly. It works better than |
| 0:44.7 | the landlines I have into this building as well. I got it as a backup, but now I use it as primary. |
| 0:51.5 | There are thousands of satellites swimming above me. You can get an app on your |
| 0:56.0 | iPhone and watch those satellites swim overhead. This is all Elon Musk's vision, because up to this |
| 1:02.6 | point, as I understand it, Eric, you're the reporter. There had only been big communication satellites |
| 1:08.8 | at geosynchronous orbit. |
| 1:11.9 | To go to low Earth orbit, you've got to put up thousands because they disappear so fast |
| 1:18.7 | overhead. |
| 1:19.7 | Did anybody believe him when he proposed this? |
| 1:23.6 | Yeah, he was not the first person to propose the idea of a constellation in low Earth orbit, |
| 1:29.7 | where a satellite basically spends five minutes from horizon to horizon and then has to pass |
| 1:34.6 | its signal off to the next satellite. |
| 1:36.9 | But it was always viewed as pretty impractical because no one had ever built satellites |
| 1:43.0 | at a high rate. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in -13 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from John Batchelor, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of John Batchelor and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.