Scroll down to read this post.

 

Readers!

 

The time has come for my annual short 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.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. 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.


Live stream of landing of Odysseus on Moon

South Pole of Moon with landing sites

UPDATE: The engineering team has decided to delay the landing attempt by one lunar orbit, pushing it back to 6:24 pm (Eastern). The live stream begins well before then, so that NASA can get in a lot of blather and propaganda, so feel safe waiting to tune in until 6 pm (Eastern).
——————-
Capitalism in space: I have embedded below the NASA live stream for the presently scheduled 5:30 pm (Eastern) landing on the Moon of Intuitive Machines Nova-C lunar lander dubbed Odysseus.

The green dot on the map to the right marks the planned landing site, about 190 miles from the Moon’s south pole. This will be the closest attempted landing so far to that pole, and if successful it will land on the rim of a crater, Malapart A, that is believed to have a permanently shadowed interior.

Odysseus however has no instruments capable of seeing into that interior. Its main mission is engineering, to test the landing technology of Intuitive Machines’ spacecraft. As part of this effort, it will release a small camera probe, dubbed EagleCam, when it is about 100 feet above the surface, which will to take images of that landing. [Update: That probe is unprecedented for another reason: It will be first student-built probe to land on another world, as it was designed and built by a team of students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida.]

If the landing is successful, Odysseus is designed to last until sunset on the Moon, about another two weeks. It carries a variety of NASA and commercial payloads, including a private small optical telescope. More important, it will allow the company to follow through with its manifest of future missions, including a second lunar landing later this year.

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

14 comments

  • Ray Van Dune

    Moon is full today, so it is lunar noon, and lunar sunset is about a week away, not two weeks.

    And why land at noon, instead of nearer sunrise to get much longer daylight heating and solar power?

  • Ray Van Dune: I think Odysseus gets more time because of the very high latitude, but I could be wrong.

  • Ray Van Dune

    Yes, that might contribute to more sunlit time. Also, it might be more difficult to land with long dawn shadows, to the extent that optics plays a role in landing navigation.

    At any rate, they are going to have to learn how to land, and take off, in darkness because that’s a large portion of the time on the moon.

    OTOH, when the Sun is down on the moon, the Earth is up, and it’s pretty bright!

  • Jeff

    Another landing time update.

    NASA TV coverage at 20:00 UTC = 3 pm EST and landing at 4:24 pm EST

    https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-1

  • Ray Van Dune

    My wording about the Earth being “up” on the Moon was misleading. The Moon being tidally locked with the Earth means that it is only visible from roughly half of the lunar surface. From those places where it is visible, it remains in nearly the same position at all times, it does not “rise” or “set”! It does move slightly due to lunar liberation (periodic wobbles in the orientation of the moon in its orbit).

    What the Earth DOES do is change in how much of it is illuminated by the Sun! This goes from almost no illumination because it is near the Sun in the sky, to almost full illumination when it is opposite the Sun, on a roughly 28-day cycle, or a month.

  • Ray Van Dune

    lunar liberation -> lunar libration

  • Jeff

    Yet another landing time change.

    Coverage now set for 1700 EST – 500pm
    Landing at 1824 EST – 624pm

    https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-1

  • Jeff: Refresh your browser. I put up this updated landing time awhile ago.

  • Michael McDermott

    Why keep faking this crap?

  • Paul Revere

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/02/22/odysseus-lunar-lander-makes-history-moon-spacex-launch/72660310007/

    Houston, Odysseus has found its new home,” Stephen Altemus, president and CEO of Intuitive Machines, said shortly after the landing at 5:23 p.m. CST.

    The announcement of the landing came about 10 minutes after it happened following some communications challenges. Tension built as the team behind the IM-1 mission waited for confirmation with bated breath.

    “I know this was a nail-biter but we are on the surface and we are transmitting,” Altemus said. “Welcome to the moon.”

  • Paul Revere: I think that the announcement you link to by the company’s CEO is premature in some ways. He adds nothing to the mission director’s statement, as I quoted in my post at the top of the page, describing the uncertain landing.

    There are still unknowns here. We need to wait to find out more.

  • GWB

    So, when they had the comms issue, they unplugged and re-plugged in the ground station. Heh.

    Also, why isn’t there a network of satellites on/around the dark side that can bounce comms back to Earth?

  • sippin_bourbon

    GWB.

    Build it. Launch it. Provide a service.

    Are you going to wait for a government to do it for you? If so, then you also invite them to control it for you as well.

  • wayne

    Nothing beats high framerate, high-resolution, on-board video of the descent & landing.

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.

 

However, name-calling and obscenities will not be tolerated. First time offenders who are new to the site will be warned. Second time offenders or first time offenders who have been here awhile will be suspended for a week. After that, I will ban you. Period.

 

Note also that first time commenters as well as any comment with more than one link will be placed in moderation for my approval. Be patient, I will get to it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *