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Readers! A November fund-raising drive!

 

It is unfortunately time for another November fund-raising campaign to support my work here at Behind the Black. I really dislike doing these, but 2025 is so far turning out to be a very poor year for donations and subscriptions, the worst since 2020. I very much need your support for this webpage to survive.

 

And I think I provide real value. Fifteen years ago I said SLS was garbage and should be cancelled. Almost a decade ago I said Orion was a lie and a bad idea. As early as 1998, long before almost anyone else, I predicted in my first book, Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, that private enterprise and freedom would conquer the solar system, not government. Very early in the COVID panic and continuing throughout I noted that every policy put forth by the government (masks, social distancing, lockdowns, jab mandates) was wrong, misguided, and did more harm than good. In planetary science, while everyone else in the media still thinks Mars has no water, I have been reporting the real results from the orbiters now for more than five years, that Mars is in fact a planet largely covered with ice.

 

I could continue with numerous other examples. If you want to know what others will discover a decade hence, read what I write here at Behind the Black. And if you read my most recent book, Conscious Choice, you will find out what is going to happen in space in the next century.

 

 

This last claim might sound like hubris on my part, but I base it on my overall track record.

 

So please consider donating or subscribing to Behind the Black, either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. I could really use the support at this time. 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. Takes about a 10% cut.
 

3. A Paypal Donation or subscription, which takes about a 15% cut:

 

4. Donate by check. I get whatever you donate. Make the check payable to Robert Zimmerman and mail it 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.


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 or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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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