December 15, 2020 Zimmerman Space Show podcast
The podcast for my 90-minute appearance with David Livington on The Space Show on December 15, 2020 is now available here.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. 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.
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 or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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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.
The podcast for my 90-minute appearance with David Livington on The Space Show on December 15, 2020 is now available here.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. 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.
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 or subscription:
4. 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.
Great show!
tangentially, I’ll toss this in here…
The American Rocketeer: Frank Malina
JPL history documentary 2010
https://youtu.be/jlNz634TjN0
1:29:24
The show asked for a listener comment on green new deal rocketry. Spacex is well positioned. The propellant generation plan for Mars can work on Earth too. CO2 + H2O + Photon = CH4 + O2. If I may skip the balancing and the technical details which will be familiar to anyone who has studied the readily available web content; with much engineering to be worked out by Spacex.
Bob,
A question about what you guys talked about: a privately owned fifth space shuttle? I have read the paper for use of the shuttle’s external tank(s) to make into station, but never a private shuttle.
I could not find anything on the search engines about this fifth shuttle. This really sounds interesting. Any names or dates would be appreciated.
Jay: I am working from memory, but I think Rockwell was the lead in proposing NASA build a private fifth shuttle for commercial purposes. I might have the company wrong, but no matter. The point is that NASA said no, unfortunately.
Thanks Bob,
I will look into that.
Jay: It was even worse than that. Back before ULA there was another Boeing / Lockheed joint venture called United Space Alliance (USA) to process and maintain the Space Shuttle orbiters for NASA. One day the CEO of USA made the public comment that one day in the future they’d like to work out a deal with NASA where they could own the orbiters and sell NASA — and other customers — flights.
The NASA administrator at the time (I think it was Goldin) was said to be so enraged at that idea that he called the CEOs of Boeing and Lockheed to have the USA CEO fired. He was.
The Commercial Crew program really changed the culture of NASA.