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Readers!

 

It is now July, time once again to celebrate the start of this webpage in 2010 with my annual July fund-raising campaign.

 

This year I celebrate the fifteenth anniversary since I began Behind the Black. During that time I have done more than 33,000 posts, mostly covering the global space industry and the related planetary and astronomical science that comes from it. Along the way I have also felt compelled as a free American citizen to regularly post my thoughts on the politics and culture of the time, partly because I think it is important for free Americans to do so, and partly because those politics and that culture have a direct impact on the future of our civilization and its on-going efforts to explore and eventually colonize the solar system.

 

You can’t understand one without understanding the other.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent independent analysis you don’t find elsewhere. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn’t influenced by donations by established companies or political movements. 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.

 

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
 
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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 headquarters sold

The building that has been NASA’s headquarters for 26 years is being purchased by a South Korean company for about $400 million.

It doesn’t appear NASA is moving, since their lease continues until 2029. This deal appears to be simply a real estate deal between different office building companies.

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

4 comments

  • S. Kaye

    Why is NASA’s headquarters not owned by the government? I was shocked to hear your report this on the radio.

  • S. Kaye

    What does subscription provide? Do you get notifications via email?

  • S. Kaye asked, “What does subscription provide? Do you get notifications via email?”

    Assuming you are asking about subscriptions to Behind the Black, the only true benefit is that you get the joy of supporting my effort. It ain’t much, but trust me, I’m not getting rich doing this. In fact, I have been getting poor for years due to my passion for space, science, and exploration.

    Nonetheless, the support and donations I have getting from my readers and the people who hear me on the John Batchelor Show and other radio venues has been deeply appreciated. And this support has been growing, which is increasingly allowing me to focus my efforts more on the webpage rather than other more mundane writing work.

    So, if you choose to support me, I will be grateful. If not, I will understand completely.

  • Wayne

    S. Kaye–

    I believe Washington DC is the second largest market for office-space in the Country. (outside of NYC) ((It’s a boom-town, which is a huge problem in and of itself, but a topic for another day.))

    You don’t really want the Fed’s to actually own the buildings they use– it’s more efficient & less-costly for the Feds to lease space from private developers, and they in-turn assume all the risk of being a landlord to the Feds.
    (as long as the GSA pays market-rate rent & there aren’t any sweetheart crony deals, everything is actually OK and nothing devious is going on.)

    >Boston Properties Inc., (Mort Zuckerman) was the original developer/owner, although I don’t know if they are the ones who sold to the S. Koreans.
    (I’d be willing to bet, your Pension Fund owns bits of Boston Properties & other real-estate investment trusts, who lease space to Local/State/Federal government operations.)

    >As to Behind the Black— what you get for donating to Mr. Z is high-quality Space, Exploration, & Political items/discussion, a clean website with minimal advertising (interruptions), and no hidden agenda. You can comment without logging-in, and he’s not trying to harvest your email address & sell you junk.

    For me, those are valuable things, which is why I do donate, and I’d encourage you to at least think about it.
    I’m not scientist myself, just an interested civilian, and I’m always amazed at the high-quality brain-power & diversity of professions of the audience here. I literally learn-something-new, every day.
    Or… you could always buy a book, Christmas is coming!
    Personally– I’d highly recommend “Genesis, the Story of Apollo 8,” for yourself, and possibly getting the “Chronological Encyclopedia of Discoveries in Space,” as a reference-book. (Bought a copy for my G-Daughter.)

    Either way– hope to see your name pop up in the discussion thread going forward!

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

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