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The time has come for my annual short Thanksgiving/Christmas fund drive for Behind The Black. I must do this every year in order to make sure I have earned enough money to pay my bills.

 

For this two-week campaign, I am offering a special deal to encourage donations. Donations of $200 will get a free autographed copy of the new paperback edition of Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, while donations of $250 will get a free autographed copy of the new hardback edition. If you desire a copy, make sure you provide me your address with your donation.

 

As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.

 

In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.

 

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Being tone deaf is not a good way to fund a government space program

Yesterday the House appropriations committee’s released budget numbers that included no additional funds for commercial space, limiting the subsidies to $312 million, the same number as last year and significantly less than the $850 million requested by the Obama administration.

This is what I have thought might happen since last year. The tone deaf manner in which the Obama administration has implemented the private space subsidies is leaving all funding for NASA vulnerable.

The political needs of Congress encourage them to fund the pork of the program-formerly-called-Constellation because it maintains the jobs that already exist in their districts. Unfortunately, the program-formerly-called-Constellation will not get us into space, and when that program fails over the coming years it will become increasingly likely that Congress will eliminate it entirely, faced as it is with terrible federal deficits and a crushing debt.

At the same time, those same political needs give Congress little incentive to fund the new private space efforts. As these companies are new, they have no vested interests in Congressional districts. Faced with the need to find things to cut, it is very easy for Congress to cut or trim these subsidies.

The result: all funding for NASA goes away.

As I have said repeatedly, this might not be a bad thing. Eventually freedom, competition, and the need to get into space will force the creation of a new space industry, and to have that industry blossom outside the control of government is certainly a better thing in the long run.

The problem will be that it might take five to ten years for that to happen. And that is going to be a very painful time for those space cadets out there who desperately want the United States to explore the solar system.

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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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

2 comments

  • looks like we are still working against each other to make the transition to private space more painful instead of less painful its a shame . we have got to turn the corner and start making things better . comon lets get together and find a common vision we can all work toward! thanks for the post good info^^

  • Thanks a lot for the blog post.Much thanks again. Wonderful.

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