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Readers!

 

My July fund-raising campaign to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary since I began Behind the Black is now over. I want to thank all those who so generously donated or subscribed, especially those who have become regular supporters. I can't do this without your help. I also find it increasingly hard to express how much your support means to me. God bless you all!

 

The donations during this year's campaign were sadly less than previous years, but for this I blame myself. I am tired of begging for money, and so I put up the campaign announcement at the start of the month but had no desire to update it weekly to encourage more donations, as I have done in past years. This lack of begging likely contributed to the drop in donations.

 

No matter. I am here, and here I intend to stay. If you like what I do and have not yet donated or subscribed, please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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.
 

3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:

 

4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
 
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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.


November 15, 2024 Quick space links

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. Hat tip also to Jay for the earlier ABL and Impulse stories. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

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

7 comments

  • either oxygen or methane

    Does not compute. Methane is the propellant, oxygen is the oxidizer. One must have both in rocketry, and that makes one fuel, not two.

  • V-Man

    “either hydrogen or methane”? That would make more sense.

  • David Eastman

    Except that there is no mention in the link or anything that I can find online about the engine to say that it is in anyway odd in it’s fuel configuration. Not sure what led Bob to say otherwise. Presumably he was just zipping off a very quick post since he certainly knows better than to call Oxygen a fuel.

  • All: David Eastman is correct, I was working too fast. The company says in its press materials that the engine uses hydrocarbon fuels, implying both hydrogen and oxygen. I have fixed the text.

    I will add that this might be incorrect. The company is vague about this.

  • Doubting Thomas

    Looks like Starship Flight Test 6 moved from Monday 18th to Tuesday 19th. Same estimated time for lift-off: 4 pm Central Time. That gives daylight landing splash in Indian Ocean.

  • One would think that one of the big problems with making a dual hydrogen-methane (and lox) fueled rocket would be the very different proportional sizes for the hydrogen-lox vs. methane-lox fuel/lox tanks.

  • wayne

    Dropping this in here,

    Vic Flick (May 14, 1937 to November 14, 2024)
    The James Bond Theme
    https://youtu.be/eeuhXwvb3V8
    1:58

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

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