Scroll down to read this post.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. I keep the website clean from pop-ups and annoying demands. Instead, I depend entirely on my readers to support me. Though this means I am sacrificing some income, it also means that I remain entirely independent from outside pressure. By depending solely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, no one can threaten me with censorship. You don't like what I write, you can simply go elsewhere.

 

You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. 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.
 

3. A Paypal Donation:

4. A Paypal subscription:


5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.


Blue Origin unveils first completed BE-4 rocket engine

The competition heats up: Blue Origin today unveiled to the public its first completed BE-4 rocket engine, being built for its New Glenn orbital rocket as well as ULA’s Vulcan rocket.

More important however was that the company expects the second and third engines to come off the assembly line very soon.

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 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

3 comments

  • LocalFluff

    Isn’t it a problem for Jeff Bezos that he is running total hate propaganda against the president in his WaPo? That the president has said that Bezos’ Amazon is an unhealthy monopoly that should be regulated. So, that same Jeff owns a company Blue Origin that is looking for monies from the president’s NASA and from the ULA who are dependent on not alienating the president.

    And Jeff Bezos bought WaPo in order to *improve* his political influence!? It shows how one bad idea can ruin all good ideas realized before it. I doubt BO will ever fly anything to orbit unless Jeff Bezos sells it all.

  • Tom Billings

    “Isn’t it a problem for Jeff Bezos that he is running total hate propaganda against the president in his WaPo?”

    The pissy attitude towards non-progressive politicians is why Bezos bought WaPo in the first place, and I think Trump realizes it. By 2011, it was obvious that the US politics, under Obama, was becoming like Chicago’s. In Chicago, any retailer who doesn’t want to be shut down regularly for “permit inspections” and other government interference in their operations will make regular contributions to the Cook County Democratic Party, and will put a sign in his window stating his adherence to the Party.

    Amazon, where Bezos gets his capital for Blue Origin from, is the planet’s largest retailer, and he needs it to *not* be treated to the sort of raids that shut down Gibson Guitar for much of Obama’s presidency. So, in 2011, he bought the broke WaPo, and kept it running even though it was losing money, as his sign in the window. It’s like owning a snippy snarling little dog for show, that has to be walked in public, though. If he believes that the Democrats might win the 2018 and 2020 elections, he will want to kept the snarling little beast as his sign that he was “faithful through all 4 horrid Trump years”.

    However, on the day of his first meeting with the rest of the Trump presidential advisory board for 2021, I would counsel all employable WaPo employees to have other jobs already lined up, or even be at other employment already, because the years of losing money will be an excellent excuse to finally put the nasty little beast down. He knows that Trump, despite his other faults, is *not* a Chicago pol, like Obama was. So, he’s got time to be sure of his footwork before he makes this move.

  • ken anthony

    The Raptor appears to be about six months ahead. These engines are going to be game changers.

    I don’t expect politics will affect the competition much.

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.

 

However, name-calling and obscenities will not be tolerated. First time offenders who are new to the site will be warned. Second time offenders or first time offenders who have been here awhile will be suspended for a week. After that, I will ban you. Period.

 

Note also that first time commenters as well as any comment with more than one link will be placed in moderation for my approval. Be patient, I will get to it.

Leave a Reply

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