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My February birthday fund-raising campaign for this website, Behind the Black, is now over. Despite a relatively weak initial three weeks, the last week was spectacular, making this campaign the second best ever.

 

Thanks to every person who donated or subscribed. It continues to astonish me that people who can read my work for free like it enough to donate money voluntarily. Words cannot express my appreciation for that support, especially in these uncertain times.

 

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

 

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Weather delays Falcon 9 launch till Thursday

High winds has forced SpaceX to delay today’s commercial Falcon 9 launch two days.

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

5 comments

  • Michael

    I have a couple of questions that may seem silly but they intrigue me.

    Shortly after the second stage engine starts up a band of some sort can be seen flying off the the bottom of the bell. What function is being performed?

    Secondly, where is the Space X firing room for LC39A? For Shuttle we used FR1 for most OPF and Pad operations, even when we went off Pad B. We occasionally used FR2, and FR3 was left as a monument to Apollo. I imagine FR1 is reserved for SLS, between the various OPF bays and on-going projects I can imagine FR2 being used, and I cannot see NASA giving up FR3. So where? I see a building adjacent to the HIF that may be the location, but I keep thinking about how close it is to the launch mount –- but then I remember at Vandenberg you could spit from the control room at Slick 6 and hit the pad.

    Anyway, just curious.

  • wayne

    Michael–
    I’ve noticed that band as well.
    –I could speculate, but I know we have actual rocket-scientists, who can & will enlighten us, so I’ll refrain.
    (There are no silly questions— just silly answers!!)

  • Calvin Dodge

    Per reddit:

    That is the second stage engine nozzle stiffener ring. The bell nozzle on the MVac is not very rigid (this is for a variety of reasons, most importantly are weight savings and ensuring good thermal radiative properties to keep it cool), especially when the engine is not firing. The ring keeps the nozzle from flexing too much during the first stage burn. After the MVac is ignited, the positive pressure from the engine firing pushes on the inside of the nozzle which prevents it from flexing, so the stabilizer ring is no longer needed and it falls off, as it is designed to do.

  • wayne

    Calvin Dodge–
    Thank you very much for that factoid!

  • Michael

    Calvin Dodge–
    Thank you for the info

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