This is the tale of the modern Space Age, detailing all the risks, rewards and rivalries that have fueled space exploration over the decades. Jump into a world of ambitious entrepreneurs and determined spacefaring nations, of secret spy satellites and espionage, of all the cooperative and competing interests vying for dominance in ways little known to the public.

Written by an Italian aeronautical engineer with over thirty years of experience in government and private industry, this English translation explains how and why the game has fundamentally evolved and where it is headed next.

Exploring such topics as GPS and cyberspace, the economics of private and public industry and the political motivations of emerging spacefaring powerhouses like China, this book is an engaging foray into the ongoing battle for our terrestrial home through extraterrestrial means.

Marcello Spagnulo is an aeronautical engineer. He has worked for thirty years in the space sector both in private industries and in government agencies, in Italy and abroad (Holland, France, Guyana). He has held various managerial positions in strategy and planning, business development, program management and aerospace engineering. Since 2009, he has published three books related to space, two of which published with Springer.