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The time has come for my annual short Thanksgiving/Christmas fund drive for Behind The Black. I must do this every year in order to make sure I have earned enough money to pay my bills.

 

For this two-week campaign, I am offering a special deal to encourage donations. Donations of $200 will get a free autographed copy of the new paperback edition of Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, while donations of $250 will get a free autographed copy of the new hardback edition. If you desire a copy, make sure you provide me your address with your donation.

 

As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.

 

In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.

 

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Watching the first SLS launch tonight

At this moment, with weather 90% favorable and the countdown underway, the first launch of NASA’s SLS rocket appears go for a 1:04 AM (Eastern) launch tonight.

You can watch the live stream on NASA TV here, which will begin at 3:30 pm today and mostly be NASA propaganda intermixed with descriptions of the rocket, its payloads, its full mission, and updates on the launch countdown.

NASA’s live stream is now embedded below, beginning at 10:30 PM (Eastern) when actual coverage of the final countdown begins. I would still suggest that you wait until at least 12:30 AM (Eastern) before watching, as those first two hours will still be filled with a lot of NASA propaganda blather.

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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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

13 comments

  • Diane E Wilson

    I’ll bet ten quatloos that it will abort on a hydrogen leak tonight. No way all those seals are still intact after Nicole.

  • Mitch S.

    I’ll take that bet.
    I have a feeling NASA won’t be too fussy about taking some risk. All these delays must be becoming a form of torture.
    Also I have trouble believing some wind gusts could seriously damage a rocket designed to withstand the stresses of launch (especially SLS with the boosters on the sides resulting in loads at angles other than directly below) unless a piece of debris was driven into the vehicle (would have surely been spotted by inspections).

    Though if I lose I’ll have to take a trip to Triskelion because I don’t think banks here exchange dollars for quatloos!

  • John

    That launch window doesn’t work for me. I’m going to bed, somebody wake me up when Marvin the Martian gets his earth shattering kaboom. On second thought, the launch video will likely be posted here.

  • John

    Oh no! The red crew is mobilizing to address a core stage LH2 leak. Anyway.

    I made the mistake of clicking on the live stream.

    If I told them once, I told them a million times, H2 is the lightest element and you gotta have those seals down pat! LH2 is one of those things you need if you have LO2.

    The red crew team is going in! Go red crew team! Highly trained group is going in to tighten bolts. 15minutes of work in a hazardous area.

  • Diane E Wilson

    Mitch,

    Yes, this has the odor of Go Fever. I’m sure they have a manager on call for any last-minute launch waivers.

    They really don’t have a way to do close inspections on the pad; they’d have to roll back to the VAB to do that. And the wind force induces stress in directions that are not part of the flight profile.

    Going to be interesting, whatever happens.

  • Yo,

    Red crew, eh? On the original Star Trek, wearing a red shirt was not good for your long term health.

  • “On the original Star Trek, wearing a red shirt was not good for your long term health.”

    Generally true, with a notable exception.

    2213. Still sitting there.

  • CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor

    Watched. Artemis. Done. Last of the classic boosters.

    Like a Cadillac 1969.

  • wayne

    holy cow, there’s a cottage industry regarding this–>

    “Every Single Redshirt Death in Star Trek: TOS”
    https://youtu.be/9iFyc0dPqig
    9:28
    vs.
    “Red Shirts Are the Safest”
    https://youtu.be/GIRRDO7_SZI
    2:47

    Referencing the rocket launch–
    I sincerely thought it would blow up.
    Watching the NASA feed– extremely disappointed with camera angles and tracking.
    –What’s up with the polling they did?? It’s as if everyone had to raise their right hand and swear everything was ok.

  • Lee S

    I wonder if all the techs are as amazed it didn’t blow up as many here are??

  • Jeff Wright

    Tory Bruno voice on: where are my quatloos Diane? Scotty wore Red too.

  • ” Last of the classic boosters.”

    ‘Oh, cool! Are the boosters landing at Kennedy, like SpaceX?”

    No.

    “What about the fairings? Will NASA catch and re-use those?”

    No.

    “The central stage?”

    No.

    “Uh, what do we get back?”

    The capsule, in about three weeks.

    “Tell me again how this is different than the Saturn V – Apollo?”

  • Diane E Wilson

    Mitch, will you take an IOU for those ten quatloos?

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