Chapter 119

This chapter chronicles the intense rivalry between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos across space ventures, culminating in their competing suborbital flights in July 2021. Though both men share a passion for disrupting industries and long-term vision, they differ fundamentally in engineering approach and work ethic, with Musk dismissing Bezos's commitment to Blue Origin and Bezos skeptical of Musk's intensive technical interventions.

The rivalry between Musk and Bezos spans years of competition over Cape Canaveral's Pad 39A, rocket milestones, and human spaceflight contracts. In April 2021, SpaceX won a NASA contract to transport astronauts to the moon over Blue Origin, prompting Bezos to unsuccessfully appeal and Blue Origin to publicly criticize SpaceX's plan. Musk responded with mockery on Twitter, and his supporters formed a flash mob ridiculing Blue Origin. Despite similarities—both disrupt industries through innovation and force of will, both ignore short-term profits—their approaches diverge sharply. Bezos operates methodically with his motto "gradatim ferociter" (step by step, ferociously), while Musk drives people toward aggressive deadlines and personally involves himself in engineering details. Musk criticizes Bezos for lacking focus on engineering specifics; Bezos questions the value of Musk's technical interventions. Musk also disdains Bezos's lavish lifestyle while living in rented quarters himself. A second dispute erupts over satellite internet: by summer 2021, SpaceX has deployed nearly two thousand Starlinks across fourteen countries, while Amazon's Project Kuiper has launched no satellites. Musk applies FCC approval for improved Starlinks at lower orbital altitudes to reduce latency, prompting Bezos to file an objection. Musk attacks Bezos on Twitter, deliberately misspelling his name as "Besos" (kisses), sarcastically claiming he "retired to pursue a full-time job filing lawsuits against SpaceX." The FCC approves Musk's plans. In summer 2021, Bezos announces he will fly suborbital on Blue Origin alongside his brother Mark. Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, announces a competing suborbital flight nine days earlier on July 11. Musk attends Branson's launch, arriving barefoot with his newborn. Branson's flight reaches 53.6 miles altitude; Bezos's flight nine days later reaches sixty-six miles, above the Kármán line (sixty-two miles), providing additional bragging rights. Musk offers faint praise, noting that orbital flight requires roughly one hundred times more energy than suborbital hops and requires sophisticated heat shields. The chapter concludes with Musk's conspiratorial view of the press, particularly his belief that Bezos's ownership of the Washington Post influences coverage against him—a suspicion contradicted by the Post's space reporter Christian Davenport's balanced reporting, which has praised SpaceX's achievements and noted Musk's lead across virtually every space metric.