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Readers!

 

It is now July, time once again to celebrate the start of this webpage in 2010 with my annual July fund-raising campaign.

 

This year I celebrate the fifteenth anniversary since I began Behind the Black. During that time I have done more than 33,000 posts, mostly covering the global space industry and the related planetary and astronomical science that comes from it. Along the way I have also felt compelled as a free American citizen to regularly post my thoughts on the politics and culture of the time, partly because I think it is important for free Americans to do so, and partly because those politics and that culture have a direct impact on the future of our civilization and its on-going efforts to explore and eventually colonize the solar system.

 

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A plane you can drive to the airport.

10:36 pm

A plane you can drive to the airport.

After landing the wings fold up and the plane becomes legal to drive on the roads. With video.

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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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

6 comments

6 comments

  • joe
    August 16, 2013 at 11:32 pm

    I think that the transition is a pretty neat feat, but the entry price is too high, you can buy a used 172 for 30 to 40 thousand dollars and have many rental car companies either pick you up or deliver you a car waiting to go when you land most anywhere you choose to fly to, I hope that Terrafugia does well, but its really a niche market for this type of aircraft.

  • Pzatchok
    August 17, 2013 at 8:53 am

    I would rather just carry a nice motorcycle with me.

    I have always wanted to get a pilots license.

    Any planes out their that could carry 2 people and 600 extra pounds?

  • Joe
    August 17, 2013 at 12:45 pm

    Yes, but you won’t get a motor cycle through the door, however there are some homebuilt or experimental designs that will fit the bill. That being said, you should go to your local airport and inquire about a discovery ride, I think they are under40 dollars and the pilot will let you operate the controls. Flying does not have to cost a fortune, there are a lot of aircraft in the 15 to 25 k range that you could get 2 people and a folding bike into.

  • R. Cotour
    August 17, 2013 at 3:15 pm

    Its cool and well executed, but that first fender bender on the way to the airport will straighten every one out as whether this is a viable idea or not.

  • Pzatchok
    August 19, 2013 at 1:45 pm

    DHC-3 Otter

    I can make up a lift and rack to fit a full size motorcycle inside that plane. Get it in through the side door also. (As long as the door was about 50 inches tall and 32 inches wide.)

    Length 2,450mm (96.5″)
    Width 930mm (36.6″)
    Height 1,110mm (43.7″)
    Wheelbase 1,625mm (64″)
    Wet Weight 247kg (545 lb)

    And I could drop that total height down about 3 to 4 inches and the handle bar width down to about 30 inches.
    It might be tight but it would fit.

  • Joe
    August 19, 2013 at 4:12 pm

    When I hit the mega millions lottery, that is the aircraft I will own!

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