May 7, 2025 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
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
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
Robert,
Of course flying Artemis II and III are political. Ted Cruz made that especially clear with his graphic during Isaacman’s senate interrogation and with his statement that he wants his daughters to experience the knowledge that a woman has walked on the Moon. SLS-Orion is their toy, and Artemis gives their toy a purpose.
Cruz wants us back on the Moon before the Chinese get their men there, and right now there is no alternate method outside of Artemis. Congress will not kill Artemis right now, so there is no reason for Trump to antagonize them. He clearly intends to keep them happy until the first woman (per Cruz’s insistence) walks on the Moon or until there is a faster alternative for accomplishing that task.
Musk and DOGE can make recommendations, such as retire ISS early, but no one is required to act on any recommendation. Musk’s, SpaceX’s, and DOGE’s influences are limited.
Edward: Congressional demands are powerful, but it will still be up to Isaacman to decide whether to fly the next mission manned. I strongly believe there is a good chance it will fly unmanned, which will make having the landing flight manned more uncertain.
Regardless, Cruz is proving himself to be a real hack in this matter, willing to risk lives for a empty symbolic gesture that will really accomplish nothing. He had been my choice for president in the 2016 campaign, but more and more I think Trump’s description of him then (“Lyin’ Ted”) was actually far more accurate than I believed at the time.
Robert,
Ted Cruz was relatively new to DC in 2016 and was more like Senator Smith in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington than like Senator Paine. With some apparent exceptions, as people spend more time in DC, they tend to drift toward the direction of the Paine character. At the time, Cruz was one of two people I thought would be good as president, but I have doubts that he would be good now. There has always been a corrupting influence in DC, which was evident by the time of the Credit Mobilier scandal in the 1860s (yes, that is the 19th century).
The major difference between the Senate and the House is that the Senate is intended to be more thoughtful and careful about what it is doing. Cruz should be aware of the hazards of a manned Artemis II flight. He should be wary of a catastrophic mission. What would he say if Artemis II failed or perhaps nearly killed its crew? What would be his reaction in the hearings, in that case?
Testing the life support system when the safety of Earth is days away is so much worse than testing it in low Earth orbit when safety is only hours away. It is the same as flying the Apollo 8 mission before the Apollo 7 manned test flight.
If they are going to test the faulty heat shield with a crew aboard, then maybe they should have put a crew aboard the first Orion test flight (EFT-1, a decade ago) and gotten the manned test over with back then.
Beating the Chinese™ has already been done in 1969. Putting the first woman or the first person of color on the Moon is not a real priority, as they will happen soon enough in the natural course of events. What we should pursue now is a lunar base that we can affordably keep permanently manned and that provides a useful service. Maybe we don’t need that now, but sometime in the not too distant future, and if that can be a commercial base, built with investor money rather than tax money, then so much the better, as the commercial space company building and running it would have a profitable purpose for the base in order to attract investors.