Main Engine Cut Off

It was late 2006, and there was a big announcement coming from Apple. The world was about to meet the iPhone.

The old, entrenched interests—the handheld electronics companies you’ve long forgotten about—were terrified, but put on a strong face. In the previous few years, the iPod had grown to be a massive success, and no one could make a truly compelling device to compete—the old interests were still building products for the previous era.

Palm’s CEO, Ed Colligan, famously laughed off Apple’s next effort:

Those “PC guys” didn’t just walk in—they changed everything. Steve Jobs got up on stage and showed us what the next two decades would look like. Gone were the flip phones, the physical keyboards, the tiny, terrible screens. We entered the era of small pieces of glass, touch interfaces, and beautiful software.

The old players had grown stale from the lack of pressure from anyone doing anything differently. The new entrant was laughed off as inexperienced and in over their head. The market was ripe for a complete overhaul—a new way of thinking about and approaching a problem.

And that’s exactly where we’re at in the space industry today. We’re witnessing an incredible moment of change in all aspects of spaceflight—from the way payloads are launched, to the way exploration and settlement in space are planned.

We’re living in the golden age of spaceflight and exploration, and things are about to get chaotic. I couldn’t be starting this project at a better time.