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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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SpaceX sets February 18 for next Falcon 9 launch

SpaceX has scheduled its next launch, and first from Florida since the September 1 launchpad explosion, for February 18.

This will also be the company’s first launch from the former Apollo and shuttle launchpad that it now leases.

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

7 comments

  • Orion314

    Can’t wait…if the weather cooperates , I’ll see it from my backyard :]

  • C Cecil

    I am wondering if Space X will live feed the first stage burning in to the ocean.

  • Kirk

    C Cecil, they shuffled the order and this Saturday’s 10:01 EST launch will be the SPX/CRS-10 resupply mission, with the first stage set to return to launch site. If successful, it will be the third landing at their LZ-1 a.k.a. LC-13, and their first daylight one. The Echostar 23 launch with the expendable first stage is now set for early March.

  • Kirk

    … and I just read that they have optimistically moved the Echostar 23 NET up to Feb 28 (0027– 0257 Eastern). That would be a quick turnaround on LC-39A of only ten days.

  • Kirk

    Orion314, observers believe that the X-37B mission OTV-4 has maneuvered for a possible landing at the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility soon, after spending nearly 21 months in orbit. Reports of range activity suggest it might happen in the next few days. Tomorrow morning at about 11:10 is one possibility, but the AF isn’t talking and NOTAMs don’t mention it yet, so perhaps Wednesday morning at about 11:25 is more likely.

    Perhaps you will hear the sonic booms.

  • Kirk

    New for this first SpaceX launch from LC-39A is the Falcon Heavy capable Transporter Erector. Part of its design is that instead of retracting several minutes prior to launch, it remains in place until T-0 when it rapidly retracts in a “throwback” maneuver. This allows for shorter umbilicals and is expected to result in less launch damage, cutting refurbishment efforts.

  • Kirk

    … and back to the X-37B, here is NSF’s article on its expected landing: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/02/air-forces-x-37b-landing-kscs-slf/

    It does mention the Air Force’s statement that it is simply “conducting a regularly scheduled exercise”, but there is a NOTAM for the restriction of airspace around the Shuttle Landing Facility from 0800 to 1600 local today, and it has been extended for the same times tomorrow, though perhaps it is unrelated to the X-37B.

    A good way to follow this is on NSF’s forum thread for the mission: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36415

    (And don’t put much stock in the time predictions from my previous post. I don’t know how reliable their source is.)

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