Rocketeers
How a Visionary Band of Business Leaders, Engineers, and Pilots is Boldly Privatizing Space
Chapter One
Space or Bust
Peter Diamandis and the X PRIZE
Princeton, New Jersey, spring 1994. It was a perfect day for flying. Clear and smooth blue skies, with a light breeze from the west. Even better, it was Sunday, and space entrepreneurs Peter Diamandis and Gregg Maryniak had a rare day off together. Diamandis and Maryniak had just come off a long hard run at starting a satellite-launching business together, an effort that had proved unsuccessful. Actually, Maryniak was to observe less charitably years later, "we lost a shirt each."
For Maryniak, a pilot from the age of sixteen, there was no better way to get some much-needed perspective than by renting a Cessna at Princeton Airport and taking to the air. Diamandis, who'd put in twenty-five to thirty hours of flight time toward his own pilot's license, couldn't agree more, though he rarely seemed able to find the time to fly simply for enjoyment.
Their plan ... read full excerpt from Rocketeers ebook
