Breaking All The Rules: The Inside Story of the New Race to Space traces the origins of the fast moving ‘Newspace’ industry back to the end of the first Space Race in the 1960’s between the US and the Soviet Union and profiles the unique people and unlikely events that formed this exciting new trillion dollar industry. Morgan Stanley recently predicted that Space Commerce will become the ‘next internet’ with total revenues exceeding 2 trillion dollars by 2040 making space the new internet poised for commercial exploitation and innovation. This new space race will transform the terrestrial economy and change the way the world conducts business for decades to come in much the same way the internet has changed our daily lives. This once government dominated industry is being rapidly transformed by modern technology, financial forces and a cadre of fascinating individuals with a determined vision to make humanity a spacefaring species. Breaking All The Rules tells the story of how today’s NewSpace companies and its leaders have revolutionized space commerce and paving the path to humanity’s first space colonies.

Breaking All The Rules is told through the eyes and life of Author Jim Cantrell who had a front row seat to the new space race and remains an active participant in it. Jim was a first-hand witness to the last days of the Soviet space program, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the post-cold-war pilfering of its space assets. His story begins with the original Planetary Society ‘citizen space efforts’, includes helping Elon Musk launch SpaceX, and then later co-founding numerous other NewSpace companies. Many authors have written about these early days1 2 of this new space race but to date this story has remained untold by insiders. Breaking All The Rules targets a cross over audience and tells this story for the first time in a first person narrative including the many amusing and anecdotes as only an insider can do. Using his life as a narrative for the larger story, Jim traces the roots of the early ‘citizen space’ efforts acting outside of NASA and other governmental space agencies to the modern combination of high net worth personalities and entrepreneurs fueled by massive venture capital funds. This fast moving industry has an equally fast moving story behind it. Jim’s personal story is a natural vehicle to tell this story and combines with his 30 years of perspective to offer a vision of humanity’s future in space.