Liftoff follows the rise of SpaceX, specifically, the team formation and trials and tribulations of the four do-or-die flights.

RATING: 4.3/5

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KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• If you want to become a millionaire, start out as a billionaire, and found a rocket company.

• The largest object NASA has ever sent to the surface of Mars, the Perseverance rover, weighs about 1 ton. A single, small human mission would probably require 50 times the mass.

• For a sustainable human settlement, Musk thinks he probably needs to ship one million tons to Mars.

• SpaceX mantra in the early days: Build and test early, find failures, and adapt.

• A rocket launching from a low latitude can lift more mass than the same rocket from a higher latitude.

• Oxygen condenses into a liquid at a very cold temperature, -297°F, only marginally warmer than the surface temperature of Pluto.

• When a U. S. president travels abroad, a C-17 follows behind Air Force One carrying the presidential limousine and Marine One helicopter.

• Falcon 1 (1st Gen.) stood 68 feet tall and weighed about 60,000 pounds. The Falcon 9 reached a height of 157 feet and weighed a staggering 735,000 pounds fully fueled.

• If an airline discarded a 747 jet after every transcontinental flight, passengers would have to pay $1 million for a ticket.