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Readers!

 

It is now July, time once again to celebrate the start of this webpage in 2010 with my annual July fund-raising campaign.

 

This year I celebrate the fifteenth anniversary since I began Behind the Black. During that time I have done more than 33,000 posts, mostly covering the global space industry and the related planetary and astronomical science that comes from it. Along the way I have also felt compelled as a free American citizen to regularly post my thoughts on the politics and culture of the time, partly because I think it is important for free Americans to do so, and partly because those politics and that culture have a direct impact on the future of our civilization and its on-going efforts to explore and eventually colonize the solar system.

 

You can’t understand one without understanding the other.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent independent analysis you don’t find elsewhere. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn’t influenced by donations by established companies or political movements. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.

 

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

 

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Court denies Blue Origin’s suit against NASA lunar lander contract award to SpaceX

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims yesterday denied Blue Origin’s suit against NASA’s lunar lander contract award to SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft.

NASA has immediately said it “will resume work with SpaceX under the Option A contract as soon as possible.”

I guess Blue Origin might have to consider the idea of actually building stuff now.

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

9 comments

  • Questioner

    It’s good that it continues. But for the radical left NASA the following seems to be the most important (taken from the statement): “… Through Artemis missions, NASA will lead the world in landing the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface, …”

  • William F

    Drat! Lex Luthor foiled again.

  • JohnB

    So when is king Bozo going in front of the Supreme Court?

  • Michael

    Questioner – I have long since come to the conclusion that you are correct and I have no doubt that the commander of the first Artemis mission to land on the moon will be a lady. It may also be a totally politically correct crew if they can swing it. I think it would be funny if the Lunar lander sent out was manned by a “Starship Specialist” who does not fit the narrative.

  • V-Man

    I just want to see a BE-4 work — is that too much to ask?

  • Jeff Wright

    Yes. Bezos was too busy shaking down Tom Hanks for a sub-orbital ride at Soyuz level prices. That divorce must have cratered him more than we thought.

  • Christopher Lopes

    “I just want to see a BE-4 work — is that too much to ask?”

    Unfortunately for you and ULA, yes it is.

  • BLSinSC

    Did they argue about the UNFAIRNESS of SpaceX being successful in their endeavors vs Blue Origins’ Penis Shaped Ship?? Shouldn’t the very fact of HAVING a penis shape take precedence over just a rocket? I’m rather surprised the Court didn’t allow them to access all the data and production facilities of Space X! You know, EQUITY!!

  • Questioner

    Here, Sandy Munro explains the fundamental difference between Elon Musk and the CEOs of other companies (including Jeff Bezos).

    It starts at minute 22 and 30 seconds into the video.

    “China is Coming: Observations from an Expert | In Depth”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTOtAniwC18

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

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