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My July fund-raising campaign to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary since I began Behind the Black is now over. I want to thank all those who so generously donated or subscribed, especially those who have become regular supporters. I can't do this without your help. I also find it increasingly hard to express how much your support means to me. God bless you all!

 

The donations during this year's campaign were sadly less than previous years, but for this I blame myself. I am tired of begging for money, and so I put up the campaign announcement at the start of the month but had no desire to update it weekly to encourage more donations, as I have done in past years. This lack of begging likely contributed to the drop in donations.

 

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Commercial communications satellite breaks apart in orbit

For reasons that are not clear, SES’s AMC-9 satellite, launched in 2003 and nearing the end of its 15 year design life, appeared on June 17 to suddenly break into at least two pieces.

The video at the link requires patience to watch, but it shows the satellite go from one bright spot to about two at around two minutes. These two spots then slowly drift apart.

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

3 comments

  • ken anthony

    Irreconcilable differences?

  • Anthony Domanico

    It has to be in more than two pieces, many more. Now we can only hope it doesn’t cascade into a very terrible kind of fireworks.

    Like Wayne White, the CEO of Space Booster LLC said the space insurance companies should be very concerned with and strong proponents of space debris mitigation and removal.

  • Dick Eagleson

    Orbital debris remediation is a “lighthouse problem.” Both the people who pay for lighthouses and the people who don’t benefit from them existing. The U.S. needs to stand up a spacefaring equivalent of the U.S. Coast Guard – I favor the name High Guard. Like the USCG, the USHG would have as one of its primary jobs the elimination of hazards to navigation.

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