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My February birthday fund-raising campaign for this website, Behind the Black, is now over. Despite a relatively weak initial three weeks, the last week was spectacular, making this campaign the second best ever.

 

Thanks to every person who donated or subscribed. It continues to astonish me that people who can read my work for free like it enough to donate money voluntarily. Words cannot express my appreciation for that support, especially in these uncertain times.

 

If you have been a regular reader and a fan of my work and have not yet donated or subscribed, please consider doing so. I take no ads, I keep the website clean from pop-ups and annoying demands (most of the time). Thus, I depend entirely on my readers to support me. Though this means I am sacrificing some income, it also means that I remain entirely independent from outside pressure. By depending solely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, no one can threaten me with censorship. You don't like what I write, you can simply go elsewhere.

 

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

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5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
 
Behind The Black
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Dragon docks with ISS; astronauts reveal its name is Endeavour

Capitalism in space: SpaceX’s first manned Dragon capsule successfully docked today with ISS.

A few hours after launch the two American astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, also revealed that they had named the capsule “Endeavour.”

I know this is really old news from late last night and early this morning, but I was out on a cave trip (taking a work break to have some fun underground for the first time in three months). I post it for completion. I also know that the live stream of these events was active here all day for my readers to follow things, as they happened.

Prepare for even more increasing space excitement in the coming years. The Trump administration increasingly is shifting NASA’s gears to have private companies build its spaceships and rockets and science instruments. The more they do this, the less expensive and the more capabilities we shall have as a nation. This success will be a challenge for other nations to match, which in turn will raise the stakes and increase the competition, the excitement, and the action in space.

Yes, the 20s I hope are going to roar, at least in 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 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

6 comments

  • MDN

    Social distancing to about the maximum extent possible : )

  • James Street

    I thought VP Pence’s speech on Saturday was outstanding:

    “And in that spirit, today we begin a new era of human space exploration. And the credit goes to dedicated men and women all across this country, to the ingenuity and the hard work of the entire NASA team. America is proud of the men and women of NASA.

    But for the first time in our history, our astronauts have taken to the skies on a commercial rocket built by America’s private sector. So join me in a vigorous round of applause for Elon Musk and the dedicated men and women of SpaceX. Job well done. That’s great. Well deserved. Thanks, Elon.”

    – Vice President Pence at Kennedy Space Center, May 30, 2020

  • LocalFluff

    This name sound very 2010. It’d ad if NASA bureaucrats told Elon Musk:
    “- Sure, name it however you want to. But we *require* a reuse of our own olden names. Such as ‘Endeavour’. The name ‘Entrepreneur’ is not feasible here. We’re still beyond that, Gott sei Dank.”

  • pzatchok

    It would have been hilarious if Bob And Doug could have opened that hatch and asked the three others if they had found the Lord and handed them a few pamphlets.

  • sippin_bourbon

    pzatchok

    Or there to demonstrate a vacuum cleaner.

  • pzatchok

    Pizza delivery.

    21.50 plus 100 million in delivery fees. How about a tip?

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