Introduction: The View from the Mezzanine in Kent, Washington

Abstract

The book opens with a description of the Blue Origin assembly bay and a description of the work that its founder, Jeff Bezos, is attempting to achieve. McCurdy identifies the central challenges faced by business firms like Blue Origin trying to establish a foothold in the space transportation field. Can such firms raise the funds needed to cover the high cost of space flight? Do they need government help to do it? Leaders of the new space movement want to be sufficiently free of government control to carry out their ideas, but typically need financial support from sources beyond traditional private investment channels. Those other sources include the government agencies from whose control the creators seek to break away.