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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


Musk: Starlink will be made available to all cell phones in emergencies

Elon Musk has announced that SpaceX will make its Starlink internet constellation available to anyone with a cell phone should they need it during an emergency in remote areas.

The SpaceX CEO made the comments in an X post as the company, in partnership with T-Mobile, currently seeks approval from the Federal Communications Commission to operate its direct-to-cellular Starlink technology commercially. SpaceX says the satellite-based service would provide supplemental cell coverage to Americans from space that would close mobile “dead zones.” Cellular service providers AT&T and Verizon have raised concerns about the technology, including that it would disrupt their own mobile networks.

In a letter to the FCC on Friday, SpaceX said the service would connect first responders in a variety of environments and would be able to send wireless emergency alerts to everyone — not just T-Mobile customers — in places where there is no earth-based cellular coverage.

While this offer is morally correct, it is also good politics, as it acts as icing on the cake to encourage the FCC to approve that T-Moble license request. At the moment the technical details for making the proposal happen remain murky, but SpaceX’s willingness to offer this emergency service at no charge, something its competitors have apparently not, cannot hurt it in its negotiations with the FCC.

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7 comments

  • geoffc

    Musk is very clever in regards to future anti-trust issues.
    OneWeb was dead in the water. All he had to say was sure we can launch you, add to the end of the list and they would have missed their FCC required deadline.
    But he launched them very soon after, keeping them in business. By simply treating them like a normal customer he could have put the out of business. But he saved their business for them. And they are direct competition

    Kuiper is going to launch 3 times on Falcon as well.

    Hard to argue that he is behaving monopolistically when they single handely keep their opposition in business.

  • GeorgeC

    Unfortunately US anti-trust law is all about protecting competitors not about benefiting consumers. No legal arguments about consumer benefit is allowed coming from the defense. No need to prove damage to consumers is required of the government.

  • Icepilot

    Musk has a monopoly on services no one else can provide.

  • Mike

    I cannot wait for Starlink to go public, or IPO.

    I will gladly invest my entire Ira into that.

  • TallDave

    they should start sending up the full size V2s in the Starship test launches

    those things are just sitting in warehouses losing value

  • Edward

    Icepilot wrote: “Musk has a monopoly on services no one else can provide.

    This is the beauty of free market competition. One company provides improved service, so the others now have incentive to find ways to improve their own services or to find other ways to compete. This is how we get continuous improvement.

    This decade, everyone is trying to catch up to SpaceX. A decade from now, everyone may be trying to catch up to Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, or even a company that has yet to be founded.

  • wayne

    Expanding slightly on what Edward brought up–

    Ref: “Monopoly” & Musk:
    Just because you succeed, doesn’t make you a monopoly.
    Part of the contrived definition of a monopoly is, “a service or product for which there is no substitute.”

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