Examines the current state and future of the space travel industry, discussing the rise of private companies engaged in commercialized space flight, the building of new spacecraft and rockets, and the development of spaceports.

"In December 2022, it will have been fifty years since humankind's last voyage to the Moon. And nations around the world have been gaining momentum, increasingly rapidly, in their planning to return. NASA proposes to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024 (with the Artemis program) and to build a lunar orbiting space station - the Lunar Gateway - that will be capable of sustaining a permanent human presence by 2028. The Lunar Gateway...

"A new space race has begun. But the rivals in this case are not superpowers but competing entrepreneurs. These daring pioneers are creating a revolution in spaceflight that promises to transform the near future. Astronautical engineer Robert Zubrin spells out the potential of these new developments in an engrossing narrative that is visionary yet grounded by a deep understanding of the practical challenges. Fueled by the combined expertise of the...

Follows the major players and corporations who are all competing in the new "space race" to colonize the Moon, send civilians into space, or send humans to Mars.

"While the Moon was once thought to hold the key to space exploration, in recent decades, the U.S. has largely turned its sights toward Mars and other celestial bodies instead. In The Value of the Moon, lunar scientist Paul Spudis argues that the U.S. can and should return to the moon in order to remain a world leader in space utilization and development and a participant in and beneficiary of a new lunar economy. Spudis explores three reasons for...