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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
 
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652

 

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.


February 2, 2023 Quick space links

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

 

 

 

  • European startup The Exploration Company raises $44 million to develop reusable spacecraft
  • They hope to do fly a small demo prototype this year. Jay describes the future planned fullscale spacecraft: “The vehicle is called Nyx, I guess it was named after the Greek Goddess of the night. From the article: ‘Nyx would be able to send 4,000 kilograms to orbit for up to six months, and bring 2,600 kilograms back down for 20,000 euros per kilogram.'”

 

 

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

2 comments

  • James Street

    Apparently U.S. General Minihan warned that the U.S. should prepare for war with China. Americans on the godless Chicom commies’ payroll immediately called him a war monger and said he was declaring war on China. This article explains why he wasn’t and also gave a good summary of some of the problems China is facing. The bullet points are quotations I lifted from the article.

    Centralized economies always collapse.

    Predicting and preparing for war
    February 2, 2023
    Gen. Michael A. Minihan is getting some flak for his remarks on possible war with China. Here’s what he really said.
    • There are, in addition, economic and population concerns. China’s economy is facing long-term problems, including COVID, the collapse of the real estate market, and declining overseas investment in technology companies. Peak growth was 14.2 percent in 2007.
    • China’s “one child” policy that began in the 1970s created a demographic disconnect — not only fewer people, but a preponderance of males over females — that has remained. In 2020, it was estimated that there were 30 million more men than women in China.
    • A population that is both aging and declining is a security concern as well as economic one.
    • China analyst Dan Wang told the Epoch Times in an interview that China’s growth relies on import and export trade, which, while good during the first part of 2022, deteriorated significantly in the second half.
    • The consensus now is that the economy will continue to shrink in 2023. My view is, it’s going to be messy.
    • Couple the economic difficulties with the lack of potential partners with the requirement that young people support their aging parents, and you have an unstable society. An unstable society could very well be a revolutionary society — Xi’s greatest fear.
    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/02/predicting_and_preparing_for_war.html

  • Ray Van Dune

    You can bet Xi is watching how the Russians perform in the upcoming Spring Offensive. Taiwan or Siberia, that is the question?

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