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The time has come for my annual short pre-Thanksgiving/Christmas fund drive for Behind The Black. I must do this every year in order to make sure I have earned enough money to pay my bills.

 

For this two-week campaign, I am offering a special deal to encourage donations. Donations of $200 will get a free autographed copy of the new paperback edition of Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, while donations of $250 will get a free autographed copy of the new hardback edition. If you desire a copy, make sure you provide me your address with your donation.

 

As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.

 

In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.

 

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Company focused on cleaning up space junk raises $50 million

Capitalism in space: Astroscale, a Japanese company with British ties, has raised $50 million in investment capital for developing a robot spacecraft for locating and removing space junk from orbit.

The company plans to use the funding to support several ongoing efforts, including the development of a technology demonstration satellite called ELSA-d. That spacecraft, scheduled for launch in early 2020 on a Soyuz rocket, will feature “target” and “chaser” satellites to demonstrate rendezvous and proximity operations. The target spacecraft is being built by British smallsat developer Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. under a contract announced last November.

The funding will support scaling up an operations center Astroscale established in the United Kingdom in 2017 that also handles engineering, procurement and business development. Astroscale said it plans to establish an office in the United States in 2019.

The article notes also that much of this money comes from Japanese investors, including Mitsubishi, and reflects a growing interest in Japan in private commercial space.

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

  • Jim Roberts

    Good grief

    Another corporation scamming the taxpayer to pay for cleaning up after the non-existent space missions that have already been used to bilk the taxpayer out of innumerable trillions.

    That grainy, amateurish movie of some guy in a Michelin Man costume continues to line the pockets of scammers everywhere!

    Tell me this, from what camera angle did the get the color photos of the boosters falling off the LEM? And how did they ever have room for something as unwieldy as a dune buggy?

    We all know it’s a crock but I guess your just sucking off the crumbs of this con game with ad revenue

  • Calvin Dodge

    Boosters off the LEM? There were no boosters. There was a lower stage for landing, and an upper stage for taking off. Perhaps you’re thinking of something else?

    I’m not sure what ad revenue you’re referring to, since the only advertisements I see are for Bob’s books.

  • Col Beausabre

    How did they have room? Because they applied technology developed for airborne forces in World War 2 and FOLDED IT.

    https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=LUNAR+ROVER+FOLDED&&view=detail&mid=8BE8FD5DFD7CF139A6E58BE8FD5DFD7CF139A6E5&&FORM=VRDGAR

    It would help before you ask such easy questions to do some research. Your lack of doing so makes you look stupid, lazy or ignorant. Or all three.

  • wayne

    Col Beausabre-
    Great clip! I had totally forgotten about how that was accomplished.

    Calvin- ask about the Dome!
    (hey, we all know– “it’s Turtle’s all the way down,” but keep that to yourself.)

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