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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:

 

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China launches military test satellite

The new colonial movement: China yesterday completed its first launch in 2022, using its Long March 2D rocket to launch a military test satellite into orbit.

No word on where the first stage crashed in the interior of China, or whether it used parachutes or grid fins to control its landing.

The 2022 launch race:

2 SpaceX
1 Virgin Orbit
1 China

These numbers should change later today, as SpaceX has a Falcon 9 Starlink launch scheduled. UPDATE: The SpaceX Starlink launch has been delayed one day to tomorrow.

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

4 comments

  • BtB’s Original Mark

    I’ve noticed that the US China Space Race is recently receiving attention in mainstream political press. For example:

    https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/31/2022-space-race-china-us-526271

    I suggest that we use each Chinese launch as an opportunity to highlight the dangers of a CCP led China.

    For more information on the conventional, ideological, and existential threats emanating from the CCP, check out the website of the Committee on the Present Danger: China.

    https://presentdangerchina.org/

    In addition, we can slow financial flows to China by supporting those politicians that support economic decoupling. Here is an op-Ed by Senate candidate David McCormick:

    https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/americas-leaders-chinas-communist-party-dave-mccormick

    Actions speak louder than words.

  • William

    I hope US private launches accelerate this year making it impossible for China to keep up.

  • Jeff Wright

    That’s going to be tough for two reasons…China has committed itself to space as a nation where our NASA bills are empty Trojan horses-which leads me to point two-American spaceflight’s real enemy is domestic…ESG Hound is at Parabolic Arc again. Maybe on sue origin’s dime?

    He’s going to push too far to where someone just might poison every plover and turtle the via the ‘shoot, shovel and shut up’ method.

    So the very thing the Hound of the Muskervilles/Muskovites fears will be done by night for the sake of spite.

    All burning ivorys and pelts ever did was INCREASE their demand…with the same bush pilots flying documentary filmakers in also flying out contraband up under those eco-tourist seats. The surest way to see some animal go extinct? “Protect” it.

    Bob-you are going on the Space Show tonight-maybe you could explain this to ESG Hound?

    China keeps us on our toes, SLS employs Americans-but it is Unabomber Hound who deserves your oil of vitriol the most.

  • Cotour

    CCP / China, the facade:

    https://youtu.be/gTPFdJQlm0k

    Remember the ghost cities?

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