Eccentric Orbits: The Iridium Story

In the early 1990s, Motorola developed a revolutionary satellite system called Iridium that was light years ahead of anything previously put into space. While the technology was the future of communication, the Iridium company was a disaster, putting Motorola $11 billion in debt and costing $100 million a month to operate.

Dan Colussy, the retired head of Pan-Am, heard about Motorola’s plans to de-orbit the system and decided to buy Iridium and turn around the business. In “Eccentric Orbits,” author John Bloom traces the conception, development and launching of Iridium and Colussy’ s efforts to stop it from being destroyed, from his meetings with investors to his trips to the White House and the Pentagon.

Eccentric Orbits is available at 800ceoread.com for $22.