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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.
 

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Behind The Black
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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.


NASA stalls, Texas lawmakers fume

The law is such an inconvenient thing: In a bipartisan effort, Texas lawmakers roast NASA administrator Charles Bolden for not meeting mandated Congressional deadlines for Congress’s personally designed rocket, the program-formerly-called-Constellation.

The heavy-lift rocket and capsule that Congress insists NASA build is a complete waste of money and nothing more than pork. It will never get built, mainly because Congress has given NASA less money and less time to build it than they did for Constellation under the Bush administration. Unfortunately, the reason they continue to require NASA to build it is to provide pork to their districts.

In a perfect world this funding would be cut now, especially considering the state of the federal debt.

Nonetheless, Congress has still mandated the rocket’s construction, and as far as I know, we still live under the rule of law. As stupid as the program-formerly-called-Constellation is, the Obama administration has no legal right to stall the program or try to kill it. If the funds are appropriated by Congress for this rocket, than the administration must spend those funds. That the Obama administration continues to defy Congress on this matter is just another worrisome example of their willingness to ignore the law.

That our society seems increasingly willing to look the other way in this matter is even more worrisome. If we don’t start demanding that our politicians from both parties obey the law, it won’t be long before they abandon it altogether, for their own power-hungry purposes.

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

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbuQ7mAFeZQ

    Watch as a congressional representative learns to use logic before your very eyes!

  • Joe2

    Point of Agreement: The Obama Administration should be following the law on this and is not. Wonder how long they are going to be able to get away with it?

    Point of Disagreement: The Congressmen who expressed displeasure with the situation came from states other than Texas as well. In fact Congressional displeasure with the situation seems to not be limited by geography or even party.

    Just a Point: I think everybody who reads your postings knows what a big waste you think SLS/MPCV (or anything other than ‘New Space’) is. Why waste the band width restating your same position over and over again in such strident terms?

  • Charles Alvarez

    I give up. Just give me my bag of Cheetos, diet Coke, government check and I’ll be happy.

  • Joe2

    Charles Alvarez says: Posted July 16, 2011 at 4:44 PM
    “I give up. Just give me my bag of Cheetos, diet Coke, government check and I’ll be happy”

    Understand the feeling. Unfortunately that is probably the exact reaction the current administration wants.

  • Joe2

    You might want to take a look at this:

    http://blog.al.com/space-news/2011/07/nasa_heavy-lift_rocket_support.html

    The Administration is also slowing MPCV development (supposedly to bring it into line with the slower version of SLS development they are forcing). I would also be interesting to know where that MPCV money is being spent.

    Incredible.

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