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Readers! A November fund-raising drive!

 

It is unfortunately time for another November fund-raising campaign to support my work here at Behind the Black. I really dislike doing these, but 2025 is so far turning out to be a very poor year for donations and subscriptions, the worst since 2020. I very much need your support for this webpage to survive.

 

And I think I provide real value. Fifteen years ago I said SLS was garbage and should be cancelled. Almost a decade ago I said Orion was a lie and a bad idea. As early as 1998, long before almost anyone else, I predicted in my first book, Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, that private enterprise and freedom would conquer the solar system, not government. Very early in the COVID panic and continuing throughout I noted that every policy put forth by the government (masks, social distancing, lockdowns, jab mandates) was wrong, misguided, and did more harm than good. In planetary science, while everyone else in the media still thinks Mars has no water, I have been reporting the real results from the orbiters now for more than five years, that Mars is in fact a planet largely covered with ice.

 

I could continue with numerous other examples. If you want to know what others will discover a decade hence, read what I write here at Behind the Black. And if you read my most recent book, Conscious Choice, you will find out what is going to happen in space in the next century.

 

 

This last claim might sound like hubris on my part, but I base it on my overall track record.

 

So please consider donating or subscribing to Behind the Black, either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. I could really use the support at this time. 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.

 

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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.


Orbital Sciences gets ready for its first cargo mission to ISS.

The competition heats up: Orbital Sciences gets ready for its first cargo mission to ISS.

The article gives details about the status of Cygnus and Antares, including mentioning that the first test of Antares is now set for late October.

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 or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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

One comment

  • Joe

    An interesting article. Especially when compared to the article linked to below.

    http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1208/24cots/

    Both quote supposed details of contracts for delivery of cargo service to the ISS. Assuming these articles are both accurate (and both companies can meet the terms of the contracts). A comparison can now be made between the two service providers.

    Space X
    – Number of flights – 12.
    – Contract cost – $1.6 Billion.
    – Up mass per flight – 7,300 lbs.

    Based on these figures the following metrics can be derived:
    – Cost per flight (rounded down to the nearest million dollars) – $133 Million.
    – Total payload delivered (rounded up to nearest metric ton) – 40 Metric Tons.
    – Cost per pound to delivered payload (rounded down to the nearest thousand dollars) – 18,000/lb.

    Orbital Sciences
    – Contract cost – $1.9 Billion.
    – Total payload delivered – 20 Metric Tons.

    Based on these figures the following metric can be derived:
    – Cost per pound to delivered payload (rounded down to the nearest thousand dollars) – 43,000/lb.

    This (obviously) makes Space X look much better than Orbital Sciences in terms of cost.

    However, there is (to me at least) an even more interesting point. Orbital Sciences (to the best of my knowledge and to there credit) has made no grandiose claims, but Space X has talked of revolutionary reductions in launch costs (Elon Musk has even asserted that he will be selling round trip tickets to Mars for $500,000/ticket by 2030). Even the Space X figure in an actual contract comes nowhere near supporting such claims. The $18,000/lb. figure is extraordinary only in how ordinary it seems.

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