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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.


Iran to launch three satellites

What, me worry? Iran has announced it will attempt to launch three satellites into orbit within the next year.

These rockets are closely linked to Iran’s ballistic missile program, so their increased skill at putting satellites into orbit also means they have refined their ability to launch missiles to any point on the globe. The response of the Obama administration?

Asked about the reports on Tuesday, a State Department spokesman told the Free Beacon that it will not take a position on the launch before it has occurred. “We’re not going to speculate on the specifics of something that hasn’t happened yet,” the spokesman said. “Our longstanding concerns regarding Iran’s ballistic missile development efforts remain, and are shared by the international community.”

“If there are specific launches or other actions that are inconsistent with any relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions, we will address them through the appropriate channels,” the spokesman continued. “And we will continue to work with our partners, and take any necessary unilateral actions, to counter ongoing threats from Iran’s ballistic missile program.”

That’s telling ’em!

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

9 comments

  • John Sachau

    Robert, I have a question about the expanding knowledge of our universe.
    Has this enormous knowledge served to make the scientists who see with their eyes through the Hubel and other means to acknowledge the existence of God the Creator ? Do you have any sites to direct me to ? Thank you John
    PS love listening to you on the John Bachelor show.

  • John Sachau: You must remember the difference between science and religion. Science tries to figure out the “how” and “what” of the universe. Religion and philosophy try to figure out the “why.” These are fundamentally different questions that really do not conflict with each other at all. Thus, you can find scientists of all religious stripes, from the downright atheist to the deeply religious. Having more knowledge of the universe doesn’t really change this. Those who believe will do so regardless, since the knowledge really doesn’t change that belief. Those who don’t believe will continue to do so, because the knowledge really doesn’t change that lack of belief. In both cases, the belief is independent of the concrete existence around us.

    And most important of all: Humans will always be imperfect creatures. Greater knowledge does not necessarily make us greater, though it does make our lives better.

    I hope that helps to answer your question.

  • wayne

    Mr. Z– nicely stated in your 2nd & 3rd sentence..
    (it’s subtle but very powerful)

    Richard Feynman on the difficulty of “why” questions & science.
    https://youtu.be/36GT2zI8lVA
    (7:32 total)

  • Cotour

    If the universe is only about size and distance, then we are nothing. Less than nothing.

    I however suspect that there is something rather than nothing, dropped into and trapped in time to experience the tactile universe?

    My experience, observation and conclusion is that the more that you think about such things and the more sure you become that there is only what we can perceive you eventually come to the conclusion that there must be something more. And to be sure, I really do not know what that something is.

    I think that’s whats called a paradox.

  • wayne

    Cotour–

    Listen to that Feynman clip, (key part starts around 0:50)
    — Mr. Z, already summarized it– “why” is not a question for Science, “how” and “what” are the proper realm of science. Everything else is Philosophy and/or Religion.

    -The Universe isn’t only about “size and distance.” In fact, we should redefine the phrase “empty-space” in common usage, because even empty space–the vacuum of space—
    isn’t really “empty.”

    Humans are conscious, biological beings, in my book, that is something.
    (It’s everything.)

  • Cotour

    Wayne,

    We are on the same page.

  • marge strach

    Iran having billions of new money to spend via Obama administration is really scary stuff!!! They call the US the great Satan, call for our destruction and the response is really lame. I hope Israel blows their three satellites to hell because Obama too busy GOLFING…..

  • wayne

    I’ll say it out loud;

    “We need to kill huge numbers of them & break ALL their stuff. Irradiate the oil & make the sand melt.”
    They want to live in the 9th century, let’s help them.

    “Nuke the entire site fom orbit”
    https://youtu.be/aCbfMkh940Q

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