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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.

 

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.

 

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Falcon 9 launch scrubbed again

In the heat of competition: SpaceX has once again scrubbed the Falcon 9 launch of a commercial communications satellite, this time due to high altitude winds.

They say they are now aiming for Friday.

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

6 comments

  • jeff

    In planning trip to mars wouldnt it be wise and doable to send tons of supplies, water, dry goods machinery, whiskey, well ahead of the planned mission?

  • wayne

    Jeff. Love it! (“Mars Needs Women,” as well!)
    It’s definitely wise but less doable than you might think. Every kilogram requires X-amount of fuel & hardware, to get to Mars.
    Don’t know what the orbital-mechanics of launching from the Moon, but there is less gravity to contend with.
    As noted by others far more informed than me, if we can figure out how to construct things from materials-at-hand on the Moon or Mars, the whole enterprise becomes a lot more doable

  • Edward

    Jeff asked: “In planning trip to mars wouldnt it be wise and doable to send tons of supplies, water, dry goods machinery, whiskey, well ahead of the planned mission?”

    Yes, for a couple of reasons. We would be sure that the supplies are there before sending people who would depend upon them (what if the supply spacecraft failed to land and left the astronauts arriving in the other spacecraft without food or water). Separating the supplies payload from the crew ship makes the crew ship lighter, smaller, and thus would require less thrust to escape Earth orbit and enter Mars orbit, making the rocketry easier. Braking and landing on Mars would also be easier, because the Martian atmosphere is not thick enough to sufficiently slow down heavy landers.

    As for the whiskey, Robby the Robot was able to make 60 gallons for the ship’s cook on Altair, in the movie “Forbidden Planet.”

  • wayne

    Edward– excellent movie reference!
    How about, “This Island Earth”- a great story, only downside is you can clearly see the wires holding the asteroids in the special FX shots.
    “The Thing from Another World” (1951) or “THEM!”

  • Edward

    Wayne,

    I’m not so keen on monsters. I saw — er — tried to see “Night of the Living Dead” when I was too young, and that put me off. I still can’t get into zombies. “Alien” scared me into reaffirming my position (although I admit it was good — I couldn’t stop watching to walk out of the theater!), so I prefer “Twilight Zone” over “The Outer Limits,” but the aliens of “Star Trek” (except for the Salt Monster, which I was also too young for, the first time) and “Babylon 5” are fine.

    Oh, that also means I didn’t watch “X-Files” and lost out on “Lost In Space,” too.

    Just watched Falcon launch, today. Successful launch into LEO, no word yet on the First Stage landing on the barge. Second burn of upper stage yet to occur.

  • wayne

    Edward my Man!

    Yeah– fully understand. I don’t get the appeal of Zombies.
    Absolutely enjoyed Twilight Zone. Outer Limits was unique for it’s period, but yeah– too many monster stories.
    Could not get into X-Files at all, until maybe the 4th season & then highly-selective–Dislike the paranormal-themed stuff but enjoyed the straight-up “conspiracy” themed episodes.
    Lost in Space degraded into… “something” I couldn’t follow. The feature-film showed promise but… what was up with the spiders?– “dumb” and creepy.

    Very little “quality” S-F on TV, ever. Love my Star Trek, all variants. Feature films were largely “dumb” but watched them anyway.

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