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My July fund-raising campaign to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary since I began Behind the Black is now over. I want to thank all those who so generously donated or subscribed, especially those who have become regular supporters. I can't do this without your help. I also find it increasingly hard to express how much your support means to me. God bless you all!

 

The donations during this year's campaign were sadly less than previous years, but for this I blame myself. I am tired of begging for money, and so I put up the campaign announcement at the start of the month but had no desire to update it weekly to encourage more donations, as I have done in past years. This lack of begging likely contributed to the drop in donations.

 

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NASA awards SpaceX deal to provide cargo to Gateway

Capitalism in space: Should NASA ever decide to build its proposed Gateway space station in orbit around the Moon (the odds of which have gone down recently), it announced today that it has signed a deal with SpaceX to use its Falcon Heavy rocket and an upgraded larger version of its Dragon capsule to ship cargo to that station.

The deal calls for at least two missions, and is SpaceX’s first deal in NASA’s Artemis program.

This deal is a major blow to SLS and Boeing, which up to now had a monopoly on all launches to supply and launch Gateway. In fact, Gateway was invented by Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and NASA (not Congress) in order to justify SLS’s existence. That NASA has now decided it is better off using the much cheaper and already operational Falcon Heavy for some Gateway missions suggests that SLS is increasingly vulnerable to cancellation. NASA is making it obvious that other commercial options exist. No need to wait years and spend billions for SLS, when they can go now, for much less.

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

8 comments

  • pzatchok

    Could the killing of SLS be the cost to get a Covid 19 loan from the government to save Boeing?
    Drop the SlS to save the Max?

  • Chris Lopes

    I think it’s an admission that SLS may not be the vehicle we will use to explore (and settle) the rest of the solar system. At the very least, NASA is keeping its options open. SLS is a failure and they know it.

  • mkent

    What are you talking about Robert? SLS did not
    have a monopoly of Gateway flights. In fact,
    SLS had no Gateway flights at all. Both previous
    Gateway contracts — the Power and Propulsion
    Element and the MiniHab (the only Gateway
    elements needed for the 2024 flight under the
    original plan) — provided for commercial launches
    for their elements. Boeing won neither of htose.

  • mkent

    Oh, and Boeing has been massively lobbying
    *against* Gateway for quite some time now.
    Their preference is an expendable architecture
    using two SLS flights and no commercial flights
    per Artemis mission. They are opposed to the
    Gateway-centered re-usable architecture planned
    for Artemis. It seems in this case you have
    things exactly backwards.

  • Lee S

    From a European perspective, whatever way around it is/was… This is a win for the you guys… Capitalism at its best…. And to be fair… NASA is head and shoulders above anyone else at robotic missions… But when it comes to launches, SpaceX kicks NASAs butt. As You have pointed out so many times Bob, it seems that the SLS is more of a jobs program than a serious attempt to throw stuff into space. I’m pleased that sanity seems to be falling into place, and the logical plan is being considered. I know we don’t see eye to eye on many subjects… But on this space related one, ( which is why I am here ).. go USA!

  • Richard M

    mkent,

    It sure is striking how rapidly Boeing’s enthusiasm for the Gateway has receded as it became evident they weren’t getting any contracts to build it, or for SLS to launch it.

    So an architecture where Boeing gets billions more to develop an expensive upper stage for SLS (which of course will take much longer and cost much more money than anticipated) is just the ticket for them, regardless of whether they get a lander contract or not. Unfortunately, it looks like they have a fair shot at getting what they want.

  • sippin_bourbon

    I am not finding much info regarding the DragonVL mentioned in the articles, so I am assuming this is still theoretical. Usually Musk likes to throw something out, even if the numbers are huge or outlandish, and then pared down to reality later.

  • sippin_bourbon

    Dragon XL…

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