December 27, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Engineers testing solar panel design for Roman Space Telescope
These are not the panels themselves, but engineering models for testing.
- Chinese pseudo-company Orien says it will launch its Gravity-1 rocket within days
The image at the link shows a launch from a sea platform. The pseudo-company has raised considerable investment capital. It has also promised this launch by the end of 2023 for months. Not much time left.
- Fifty-five years ago today Apollo 8 splashed down in the Pacific, completing humanity’s first journey to another world
After splashdown, as described in my book, Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8:
After about half an hour the sky had brightened enough for divers to hit the water and attach a flotation collar to the capsule. As everyone waited for the hatch to open, someone in a rescue helicopter radioed a question to these three first-time lunar explorers. “Hey, Apollo 8, is the moon made of green cheese?”
“No,” Bill Anders said instantly. “It’s made of American cheese.”
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.
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Engineers testing solar panel design for Roman Space Telescope
These are not the panels themselves, but engineering models for testing.
- Chinese pseudo-company Orien says it will launch its Gravity-1 rocket within days
The image at the link shows a launch from a sea platform. The pseudo-company has raised considerable investment capital. It has also promised this launch by the end of 2023 for months. Not much time left.
- Fifty-five years ago today Apollo 8 splashed down in the Pacific, completing humanity’s first journey to another world
After splashdown, as described in my book, Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8:
After about half an hour the sky had brightened enough for divers to hit the water and attach a flotation collar to the capsule. As everyone waited for the hatch to open, someone in a rescue helicopter radioed a question to these three first-time lunar explorers. “Hey, Apollo 8, is the moon made of green cheese?”
“No,” Bill Anders said instantly. “It’s made of American cheese.”
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.
Mr. Zimmerman: Related to your Apollo 8 article. Why do you use the marxists’ word “humanity” instead of correct word “mankind” (the word also used by Apollo astronauts)?
Questioner: Because a good writer in English uses as much variety in words as possible, something that English allows with its gigantic vocabulary.
As for the using the word “mankind,” you might want to read the book’s full title, including the subtitle.
here we go….
Apollo 8 BBC Coverage
Burke, Moore, Lovell
(1 of 3 clips total)
https://archive.org/details/apollo-8-bbc-coverage