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.


August 18, 2025 Quick space links

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. 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

  • wayne

    Here we go:

    “A Point in Time: The Corona Story”
    CIA Directorate of Science & Technology (1972)
    Synthetic image enhancement by Retro Space (2024)
    https://youtu.be/l2hnYFBzM1M?t=233
    (57:42)

  • pawn

    Naming a Cygnus cargo stage that will burn up on re-entry after Willie McCool is pretty crass or something.

    Who does things like this? Sounds like something 4chan or South Park would do.

    Did they even ask his family?

    Good grief..

  • Mitch S.

    Wayne, no “Ice Station Zebra” clips?

    “The Russians put our camera made by our German scientists and your film made by your German scientists into their rocket made by their German scientists “

  • Ray Van Dune

    Every time I hear departed hero Willie McCool’s name, I am reminded of the NPR host Tavis Smiley’s faux pas when interviewing him live on-orbit, an interview I heard live, while commuting.

    Tavis, a noted black radio personality, fell into the stereotype trap of assuming that Willie was black, and asked him if he hoped to be a role model for black youth!

    Now, I knew Willie McCool was a Scots-Irish redhead, and I realized immediately that Tavis had him confused with Payload Commander Mike Anderson, LtCol USAF, who was indeed black.

    Willie handled the question with aplomb. He said something like “Well, I hope I can be a role model for ALL youth, but Mike Anderson might be especially effective for black youth, seeing as how he’s black himself! Would you like to talk to him about it?”

    I don’t remember how Smiley extricated himself from that flub, which he would have savaged anyone else for! I was probably too busy trying to get my car out of the ditch where I had driven it, while convulsed with laughter!

  • David M. Cook

    “German scientists” never made Russian rockets! Some of them were taken to Russia for their knowledge, but were soon returned. (most went to the US). The Germans were not trusted or liked. Korelev & others built Russian rockets.

  • Edward

    David M. Cook,
    It is Hollywood. They get all kinds of things wrong in their movies, then we take them as gospel. Garbage in, gospel out.

    It makes a good story within the story, so go with it.
    ____________
    Mitch S.,
    Here is the clip:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ht_Z_Dn3Uc (2 minutes)

  • wayne

    Mitch–
    Totally forgot about Ice Station Zebra!

    Edward–
    Thank you!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *