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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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NASA has suspended all spending for education and public outreach.

NASA has suspended all spending for education and public outreach because to the sequester cuts.

The list of programs suspended are as follows:

  • Programs, events, and workshops.
  • Permanent and traveling exhibits, signage, and other materials.
  • Speeches, presentations, and appearances, with the exception of technical presentations by researchers at scientific and technical symposia.
  • Video and multimedia products in development (and renewal of existing products).
  • Web and social media sites in development (excludes operational sites).
  • External and internal publications, with the exception of Scientific and Technical Information as defined by NPD 2200.1B.
  • Any other activity whose goal is to reach out to external and internal stakeholders and the public concerning NASA, its programs, and activities.”

I am sure this list excludes the normal public relations press release operation. If so, it seems to make a great deal of sense to me. Most of this stuff is really unnecessary and has literally nothing to do with NASA’s primary goal of developing new technology for the exploration of space.

And if the cuts also include press releases, that won’t be much a disaster either. I am sure we can live without. It will just mean that science writers will have to do some digging to get their stories, rather than wait for NASA to tell them what’s important.

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

4 comments

  • Pzatchok

    Since the traveling exhibits are already on the road why not just let the next place that wants them come up with the cash to bring it to them?

    You know, let private industry and donations support the project like everything else is done.

  • wodun

    I am a little conflicted because some of this stuff is cool to watch but I don’t think they do a particularly good job at it overall.

    It is telling that NASA chose to cut this part of their budget instead of Cross Agency Support, who’s budget is hovering just below $3b a year.

    “Keith’s note: This is just insane. How much money will this actually save? NASA’s response to the sequestration is to go out of its way to not communicate with the outside world? Is any other agency doing this? ”

    Oh up to $138m depending on how much they suspend.

    http://www.spacepolitics.com/2013/03/12/senate-offers-its-own-take-on-fy13-nasa-budget/

  • Ooh, the Muslims aren’t going to like that.

  • mike shupp

    Actually this makes some kind of sense. I suspect of these traveling exhibits and presentations are aimed at telling audiences things like “In 2015 NASA will send a spacecraft to Mars … in 2018 NASA will …. in 2020 NASA …”

    And now all those dates and missions are in shambles, and nobody knows if things are going to be patched up again later this year, or perhaps next year, or maybe not till long after Obama is out of office and the country feels prosperous again. What’s the point of telling children “Men will be at ML-L2 in 2021, and on Mars 2035!” when all those wonderful plans may be dead by December?

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