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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.


Caving in Nevada

I finally have an hour free here in Nevada.

For the past three days we have been intensely hiking up mountains over a vast area of Nevada. The goal has been to locate and map caves for the Forest Service in some of the most remote areas of the state. So far we have focused on mapping known caves, putting the possible discoveries aside for later work.

Jason Knight and Anthony Smith

The hiking has been spectacular, though very exhausting. For example, one cave was located only about 3,500 feet from where we parked our cars. The problem was that it also was about 1,800 feet above us in elevation. Thus, we found ourselves going up hill at probably the steepest angle for any hike I have ever done. Plus, the cave was located at about 8.600 elevation, so you were doing this hiking at high elevation with its thin atmosphere. To top it off, much of the hike was up a scree slope, made up of loose pebbles and rocks that would slide down one foot for every foot you climbed. The only way to manage it was to focus on one step at a time, and take many rests.

To put it mildly, it was a slow trip, taking about two and a half hours just to reach the cave entrance.

The cave at the top was worth it, however. After a rappelling down a 40 foot pit, we entered a 600 foot long cave with many formations. The register in the cave showed that the last cavers to visit this remote place had been there in 2009, with the previous visitors from 2002.

Other caves were less challenging to reach, but also less interesting. In the picture on the right Jason Knight (with Anthony Smith to the left) is about to poke his head into a crack that ended up only going about two body lengths. We had been more hopeful the cave would go farther, but alas, that is how things go sometimes.

I’ll have more to say after I get back. Right now I have to go to down for breakfast before heading out again.

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

  • Tim

    And you used to complain about the steps at the Twelfth! Looks like fun!

  • Hi Tim,

    I don’t remember complaining about the steps at the Twelfth. What I remember was complaining about was the fact that it seemed to rain almost every Wednesday night, and that in the months of December, January, and February my gun would often not work because it was too damn cold! :)

    Say hi to all at the range. Both Diane and I miss you all.

    Bob

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