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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.


Armadillo Aerospace closes down.

The competition cools down: Armadillo Aerospace closes down.

It is important to recognize that developing a new private industry is not easy, and that many more companies will fail than succeed. That reality, however, does not prove that freedom and private enterprise are bad ideas, merely that they carry great risks.

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

8 comments

  • R. Cotour

    Elon Musk has it down right, first become a multi billionaire and then start a space company. It gives you a lot more room to maneuver and a vast array of options.

  • Edward

    I am truly sorry to see that Armadillo is in such trouble. They are one of the companies that I have been hoping would do great things.

  • wodun

    Musk runs SpaceX as a business not a personally funded hacker space. It sounds like Armadillo has turned down work in order to focus on their main goal. Which is a mistake. Take a look at SpaceX whose main goal is passage to Mars. The services they supply today wont get you to Mars but keep the cash flow incoming so that Mars enabling technologies can be developed. Similar to some of these new asteroid mining companies whose first products will be satellites and the mining doesn’t happen until some time later.

  • (At the risk of butchering this) I am going to call this the invisible hand of creative destruction, add in a dash of crony capitalism and all bets are off, it seems as though he is a little underfunded in this arena. R Cotour is correct on this one, their is a saying in aviation that says in order to become a millionaire in aviation you must first start with ten million!

  • R. Cotour

    Its funny how the investment community pays attention to proven and tested billionaires interested in creating new businesses. Nothing like extreme previous success to attract investment to a new venture. Cash flow is always the prime directive. No real cash flow at some point down the line, no bills paid, put the key in the door.

    Musk succeeds in vision and implementation.

  • R. Cotour

    “correct on this one” Joe?

    You will also be remembering me, my observations and my conclusions at some point in the future Joe. http://youtu.be/1bSiHIxMMD8

  • Steve C

    A company named Armadillo was bound to get run over.

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