In 2008, Elon Musk's SpaceX became the first private company to build a low-cost rocket that could reach orbit. Suddenly Silicon Valley, not NASA, was the epicenter of the new Space Age.

Ashlee Vance follows four pioneering companies - Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs, and Rocket Lab - as they race to control access to outer space. While the space tourism ambitions of billionaires such as Bezos and Branson make headlines, these under-the-radar companies are striving to monetize Earth's lower orbit; to connect, analyze and monitor everything on Earth.

With unprecedented access to private company headquarters, labs, and top-secret launch locations - from the US to New Zealand, Ukraine to India - Vance presents a gripping account of private jets, communes, gun-toting bodyguards, drugs, espionage investigations, and multimillionaires guzzling booze as their fortunes disappear.