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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.

 

2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation. Takes about a 10% cut.
 

3. A Paypal Donation or subscription, which takes about a 15% cut:

 

4. Donate by check. I get whatever you donate. Make the check payable to Robert Zimmerman and mail it to
 
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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.


FAA grounds Virgin Galactic pending investigationn

Probably in response to the revelation of the flight issue, not an actual safety issue, the FAA has grounded Virgin Galactic from any further flights pending the resolution of the investigation of the July flight, which drifted out of its planned flight path due to high winds.

This will likely delay their planned next manned flight, which had been tentatively scheduled for September-October.

Posted on the way to Nevada.

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

6 comments

  • Kyle

    Mark Sticky who was with virgin for around a decade as pilot and chief of flight safety is the main source outing them on this. He was relieved of all duties after the book came out this summer, but was allowed to be present during Branson’s flight. According to his tweets, the spacecraft was not in a steep enough climb and should have aborted according to their own safety procedures. He also stated that there was a serious risk of not being able to make it back to the airfield for landing. https://mobile.twitter.com/Stuck4ger?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

  • Kyle c foley

    Sorry autospell misspelled last name.

  • Chris Lopes

    Nothing would destroy the space tourism business faster than losing a ship/crew/passengers in an accident caused by people trying to look good in front of the boss.

  • pzatchok

    I wonder if those vertical wing sections experience side to side flutter during launch and landing?

  • Chris Lopes observed: “Nothing would destroy the space tourism business faster than losing a ship/crew/passengers in an accident caused by people trying to look good in front of the boss.”

    Fair dues, in this case, the boss was on the vehicle. Still, a needless risk. Discretion and valor.

  • Edward

    Chris Lopes wrote: “Nothing would destroy the space tourism business faster than losing a ship/crew/passengers in an accident caused by people trying to look good in front of the boss.

    I think we can rest assured that at some point there will be a loss of passengers in a spacecraft accident. It happened in aviation, and loss of crew has happened in Spacecraft. We do not yet possess the knowledge to guarantee that it will not happen again in either domain.

    How the public and government react after this happens to a paying passenger will certainly determine the future of commercial space.

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