Can NASA Survive the Commercial Space (X) Era? - Space To Grow, Part 3

2026-03-10

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Why does it cost NASA $4.2 billion per launch when SpaceX predicts Starship could do the same job for as little as $10 million?In the Space to Grow Book Club, Mark and Jeremy learn about the SPAC bubble that wiped out 90% of space start-up valuations. They ask why Virgin Orbit collapsed from a $3.7B valuation to bankruptcy in two years and why Astra went public at $2.1B with zero rockets that had ever reached orbit. Mark questions whether both did exactly what crypto did: overpromise, crash, and leave retail investors holding nothing.Then our intrepid ...

Why does it cost NASA $4.2 billion per launch when SpaceX predicts Starship could do the same job for as little as $10 million?

In the Space to Grow Book Club, Mark and Jeremy learn about the SPAC bubble that wiped out 90% of space start-up valuations. They ask why Virgin Orbit collapsed from a $3.7B valuation to bankruptcy in two years and why Astra went public at $2.1B with zero rockets that had ever reached orbit.

Mark questions whether both did exactly what crypto did: overpromise, crash, and leave retail investors holding nothing.

Then our intrepid hosts turn to NASA's Artemis program. An agency born in the Cold War, now being outpaced on cost and speed by private companies it used to dwarf. Can it reinvent itself before it becomes irrelevant?

Does humanity have the coordination and trust to do genuinely big things in space? Or will we keep making small bets while China races to the Moon?

We're reading 'Space to Grow' by Matthew Weinzierl and Brendan Rosseau, the book the whole space industry is reading.

Please enjoy the show.