The painful transition to private space

To read this post please scroll down.

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.

July 7, 2011 3:16 pm Robert Zimmerman

It appears that U.S. aerospace layoffs more than tripled in the first half of 2011.

The downsizing, prompted by cutbacks in defense and government contracts, jumped from 6,121 in the first six months of 2010 to 20,851 this year, based on planned layoffs announced by major employers.

Though I have always favored shutting down the government space agency and replacing it with privately-built rockets and spaceships, the manner in which this is being done now is disgraceful. George Bush declared the retirement of the shuttle seven years ago. Since then Congress, Bush, and Obama have all done an abominable job preparing the nation for that retirement.

Had Bush and Congress focused on building up private space in 2004, we would now have a robust private space launch industry ready to replace the shuttle, as well as hire those laid off shuttle workers. Instead, they focused on having NASA build the pork-laden Constellation system. Then, as that program was actually nearing some completion, Obama shut it down cold turkey.

The result of these political follies is that the United States no longer has the ability to get our astronauts to our own space station, while tens of thousand of skilled engineers are without work. If anyone has any doubt about the foolishness of putting our faith in politicians, this whole disaster should end that doubt forever.

The good news in all this is that these engineers are not going to starve to death. They are skilled and passionate about what they do. I have faith they will find other work. In fact, I strongly believe that many of them will create new work, infusing our society with new industries and new innovation.

It is just a shame that the transition had to be as painful as it is.

4 comments

Walter Walkie
July 7, 2011 at 3:33 pm
i also believe those laid off from the shuttle and other government programs will find work , I hope some of these workers will rededicate themselves to humanity’s future , organize themselves , work together , and build for new space .. if anyone’s putting something together and there’s anything I can do to help let me know I work hard for peanuts!
Trent Waddington
July 8, 2011 at 12:26 am
They had to wait for everyone else to catch up with SpaceX. Why? I have no idea. For some reason they decided that Boeing and Sierra Nevada need protection from a tiny startup company. Blue Origin is certainly a nice addition though.
ZZMike
July 8, 2011 at 12:29 am
Do you think we’ll regain the scientific and engineering lead we had during the 60s? Almost all of that talent – including astronauts – has retired.

Do we have a generation (or two) of dedicated, educated engineers and scientists?

The private space programs seem to suggest that maybe we have – what’s your opinion?
Walter Walkie
July 8, 2011 at 1:32 am
zzmike : those are the big questions . i say we do even though things might seem crazy now . america may lead the way yet again but maybe we will become more of a global community than nation . the idea is to balance gov and priv efforts . lower the regulations let the priv companies take risks trying to get to space and work in space . spend gov money for risky research projects . gov spend money on most reliable risk proven priv space companies to do the work to get the exploration and research done

The painful transition to private space

4 comments

Leave a Reply