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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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Iran rocket fails to place satellite in orbit

The new colonial movement: According to their government sources, Iran today tried and failed to place a Earth imaging satellite into orbit with their Simorgh rocket.

The rocket carrying the Payam satellite failed to reach the “necessary speed” in the third stage of its launch, Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said.

Jahromi said the rocket had successfully passed its first and second stages before developing problems in the third. He didn’t elaborate on what caused the rocket failure but promised that Iranian scientists would continue their work.

I wonder how much of a failure this launch is. If they were testing an ICBM capability, then the successful operation of the first and second stages would likely rank this as a success. And even if their main goal wasn’t ICBM testing, in the end they have done so, as they can apply what they learn here to all military missile technology.

Update: You can see video of the launch at this Iranian press story, along with other details about Iran’s space effort. I found the comments there most educational however. Here’s one sample: “Iran needs to use its space technology to fire invincible hyper-sonic missiles from space at the Jews in Israel.” The comments are all not like this, but there are enough to give you a sense of Iran’s social culture.

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

5 comments

  • Phill O

    “He didn’t elaborate on what caused the rocket failure but promised that Iranian scientists would continue their work.”

    Bet you that what is between the lines is “promised that Iranian scientists would pay for it”

    Bob, you may very well be absolutely correct that the main goal is the obliteration of Israel. This is a true statement: “Just because I am paranoid, does not mean people are not out to get me!”

    I do not doubt that the technology will be spread to the states controlled by Iran.

    Antisemitism is growing in North America, is strong in Europe and dominant in Latin America (where many of the SS fled).

  • geoffc

    Isn’t an orbital booster, ‘failing’ on its upper stage, the key plot point in a Tom Clancy book? Debt of Honour I believe. A good book by the way.

  • Edward

    Tehran is smaller than Israel. One retaliatory nuke and Fascist Iran is Kaput.

  • Edward: Ugh. Your comment illustrates how uncivilized we have become. You clearly relish the idea of dropping nuclear bombs on Iran. I can promise you that no one relished doing this to Japan in World War II. They realized the necessity, but did not like it.

    The difference in the two attitudes might seem small, but it is really quite gigantic.

  • Edward

    That comment was from a different Edward, not the one who usually comments here.

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