FAA-licensed commercial space launches

Between 2010 and 2021, FAA-licensed commercial space launches and self-published books both grew, correlating at 0.9633 across nine data points. Both represent the democratization of activities that used to require institutional backing: going to space once required NASA, and publishing a book once required a publishing house. Now both can be done by a sufficiently motivated individual with access to the right platform. The self-published author and the commercial space launch share a worldview: barriers are for the previous generation. The quality control implications differ somewhat.

Commercial space launches grew from roughly 15 per year to over 90 by 2021, driven by SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and the commercialization of launch services. Self-published books grew from 150,000 to over 4 million titles annually, driven by Amazon KDP. Both are democratization stories—one in aerospace, one in publishing—that grew during the same decade as institutional barriers fell in their respective industries.

Two industries experiencing democratization during the same decade will correlate. The rocket launch and the self-published novel share a narrative of reduced barriers and increased volume, which produces a strong r-value regardless of domain.