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The time has come for my annual short pre-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.

 

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October 22, 2021 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast

Embedded below the fold in two parts.

To listen to all of John Batchelor’s podcasts, well worth your time, go here.

Note: this was posted late as I was out in the mountains this weekend, having fun.

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

  • Mark

    The Quote of the day goes to Batchelor- “Hey Bob, that’s an Alien Planet”. John exclaimed that when Bob was discussing pictures of the icy Phlegra Mountains on Mars, the view that Curiosity has of a cliff and a high outcropping, and the haze of the Martian atmosphere.

    To confirm Bob’s observation that the US media, and global media, ignored the Israeli – UAE space cooperation story, I went ahead and googled – israel uae space. It’s unbelievable how much this story was ignored – was it Anti-Israel bias, or Trump Derangement Syndrome? Who really knows but this makes the media look pathetic.

    In the ‘Jonah on Board’ discussion, I found it amusing that John referred to the problem of the Starliner Valves as a ‘Jonah’, and in his shownotes writes that a ‘A Jonah” is an expression among sailors uses the term to mean a sailor or a passenger whose presence on board brings bad luck and endangers the ship.
    If I remember right, John is a fan of the British naval novels by Patrick O’Brian popularized by the Master and Commander movie, and that is probably where the term comes from.

  • Gary

    Mark,

    The original Jonah is the “reluctant” Old Testament prophet who ran away from his mission to warn Ninevah of its errant ways and was tossed off Phoenician ship for bringing it bad luck. Shortly after, he was swallowed by the whale!

  • wayne

    here we go…..

    Jordan Peterson –
    ” Jonah and the Whale”
    [excerpted from 2017 Personality Lecture: Historical & Mythological Context]
    https://youtu.be/gqn8OCl1H_c
    15:31

  • Mark

    Wayne – I’ll call your Jonah reference and raise you a Blade Runner reference.
    My primary comment involved John Batchelor expressing his amazement at Bob’s description of Mar’s geological features.

    I can imagine the Replicant Roy Batty as having visited “the icy Phlegra Mountains on Mars,” – so perhaps an alternative ‘Tears in the Rain’ speech at the end of the BladeRunner Movie might have went:

    “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.

    I have seen 20 kilometer high dust storms while climbing the icy Phlegra Mountains on Mars,

    Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.

    I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.

    All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die”

  • Mark

    Since Bob was discussing the Curiosity Rover with John Batchelor, it made me wonder what the status was of future Mars Rover missions.

    Does anyone have an updated status for the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Mars rover?

    The last BtB report we had was in July 2021, and it discussed Parachute problems.

  • wayne

    Mark–
    Great scene!

    Blade Runner (1982)
    “Tears in Rain” Monologue
    https://youtu.be/NoAzpa1x7jU
    3:54

  • wayne

    while I’m at it….

    Bladerunner (1982)
    “If you’re not Cop, you’re little people….”
    https://youtu.be/uwb2t7iLatk
    1:44

  • Mark

    Since Wayne achieved within 24 hours the ‘hat trick’ of video clip posts, I think Bob should award him a “Make Space Great Again” coffee mug.

    Bob – are those available yet at the Behind the Black online Merchandize store?

  • Mark

    Wayne – I’m sure you caught this, but for those who just skim comments, I took a bit of artistic license with adding the following (based on Bob’s discussion with John Batchelor) to the Replicant Roy Batty’s ‘Tears in the Rain’ end of movie speech.

    ‘I have seen 20 kilometer high dust storms while climbing the icy Phlegra Mountains on Mars,‘

    And there really are Martian Dust tornado like storms that reach 20 kilometers in the thin atmosphere – must be an amazing sight if you see it during a Martian Sunset.

    “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.”

  • wayne

    Mark-
    yepper, I did catch that modification.
    (there is generally a clip for ‘everything,’ but not all clips are available somewhere)

  • Gary

    For anyone interested, Bob is on “The Space Show” with David Livingston today 10 pm- 11:30 pm EDT.

    https://twitter.com/spaceshow/status/1452667110899912706?s=21

  • Gary: Thank you for reminding me. I need to note this in a post.

  • IIRC, John Batchelor’s education included some time in seminary. That may be why the concept of a “Jonah” resonated with him, per the Old Testament narrative Gary described earlier.

  • Mark

    Gary – thanks for the heads up & I look forward to hearing Bob tonight on “The Space Show” with David Livingston.

    Does the Space Show online Merchandize store have
    “MAKE SPACE GREAT AGAIN!” coffee mugs?

    LGB!!

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