Scroll down to read this post.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. I keep the website clean from pop-ups and annoying demands. Instead, I depend entirely on my readers to support me. Though this means I am sacrificing some income, it also means that I remain entirely independent from outside pressure. By depending solely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, no one can threaten me with censorship. You don't like what I write, you can simply go elsewhere.

 

You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:

 

1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.

 

2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
 

3. A Paypal Donation:

4. A Paypal subscription:


5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
 
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652

 

You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.


The coming of private space stations

Bigelow and NASA have signed a contract for doing preliminary work on the construction of a Bigelow module for ISS.

This is a significant story, with important ramifications:

  • First, NASA is once again just the customer, merely buying the module and rocket from private companies. This action not only helps subsidize Bigelow and creates another product for companies like SpaceX and Orbital Sciences to launch — thereby generating more capital for these launch services — it also reaffirms NASA’s new status as a customer, not a designer, of spacecraft and rockets. In other words, the power and ownership in the aerospace industry continues to shift away from the government and to the private sector.
  • Second, the successful addition of this private module to ISS will demonstrate that there is no reason to de-orbit it, ever. Instead we can merely add and replace modules to not only keep the station running, but to also expand it.
  • Third, the speed and low cost of this project will once again demonstrate the advantages of having private companies do this work, rather than a government agency like NASA. If NASA tried to build a new module for ISS it would take many years and cost far more than anything Bigelow might charge.

All in all, this is excellent news. I would also be confident that Bigelow can build its module as fast as they say — two years — because the company has already built and successfully put into orbit two prototype space station modules.

In just a few years we might not only see private companies launching their own spacecraft to put humans into space, they might also be building the space modules for housing them there.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

3 comments

  • wodun

    Wow, great news.

    It also shows that even though NASA can develop a technology, sometimes it takes a private company to make it a reality. This supports the view that NASA should be doing R&D and helping the space industry grow, not performing functions that businesses can do for them.

  • Craig Beasley

    Outstanding. Bob Bigelow has been very patient in waiting for the time to come, and is committed to the future. This is exciting!

  • I think this is a real great article.Really looking forward to read more. Much obliged.

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.

 

However, name-calling and obscenities will not be tolerated. First time offenders who are new to the site will be warned. Second time offenders or first time offenders who have been here awhile will be suspended for a week. After that, I will ban you. Period.

 

Note also that first time commenters as well as any comment with more than one link will be placed in moderation for my approval. Be patient, I will get to it.

Leave a Reply to wodun

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *