The story is a
polemic about
NASA. The thesis is that NASA, far from helping space exploration, actually prevents it from going forth. The narrative follows disparate engineering efforts, ranging from
New York University engineering students working out of a warehouse in the
Bronx to full-fledged commercial rocket operations, to create a single-stage to orbit reusable launch vehicle. All of the science and equipment used in the story was based on technology that existed at the time of writing, like the
space activity suit. ==Editions==