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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
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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.


NASA’s first test flight of both the Orion capsule and the heavy-lift SLS rocket in 2017 might be delayed because of design problems with the European-built service module.

I am shocked, shocked! NASA’s first test flight of both the Orion capsule and the heavy-lift SLS rocket in 2017 might be delayed because of design problems with the European-built service module.

Overweight and struggling with design delays, the European-built service module for the Orion crew exploration vehicle may not be ready for a much-anticipated test flight by the end of 2017. The preliminary design review for the Orion spacecraft’s critical engine and power element is now on track for May after a six-month delay to contend with weight issues, according to Thomas Reiter, director of the European Space Agency’s human spaceflight and operations programs.

I am willing to bet that SpaceX will put astronauts in space on Dragonrider before this unmanned SLS flight occurs.

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

  • I’d somehow missed that SpaceX’s manned Dragon is to be called “Dragonrider”, I like it!

  • Juan in TN

    I am paraphrasing of course from the movie Contact but, the first rule of government contracting, why have just 1 when you can have 0 at twice the price.

  • Kelly Starks

    Dream chasers supposed to start test flights in 2016, so they might be flying people by/in 2017, I expect CST will about then to. They seem to be the farthest ahead on their engineering work and would not want to be late to the party.

    course in the end everything takes longer and costs more.

    ;/

  • Chris L

    Since 2017 happens after the 2016 election, it’s more than possible that SLS will never fly. The next administration is going to have to male real grown up choices about what to spend money on, and this white elephant doesn’t meet the grade.

  • Edward

    It seems to work out that way all too often.

  • DougSpace

    There’s a video of Gwynn Shotwell saying that she expects a manned Dragon flight in early 2015.

  • Kelly Starks

    That argument is rather specious. Its such a trivial amount of money by the standards of the feds, it just isn’t worth arguing about – especially since there would clearly be a big political fight if you propose ending NASA’s manned space capacity and missions, or even capacity to start such things in the future. Its just not worth the effort.

    Really it becomes a “if not this, what?” question. So there are alternates you could propose, but they would likely cost about as much, so budgets not going to push this decision.

  • Tim M

    Spacex MaY fly their crew capsule Qual unit w their own crew first, by the end if 2015. But most likely they will Officially fly w / crew per NASA in 2016. And so far they are in the lead for milestone completions with Boeing in 2nd and Sierra Nevada in 3rd However I’m not certain why Boeing has more than the others but theirs are much easier to complete.
    When completed, nonetheless, I truelly believe that the Dragon crewed capsule will be THE safest vehicle ever built for space transport. It’s… BADASS!!

  • Kelly Starks

    SpaceX promises big — but their success rates less impressive..once you get past their pr.

    Their the Solyndra of space launch.

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