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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
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652

 

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.


October 5, 2023 Quick space links

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

 

 

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

7 comments

  • Gealon

    It will take them ten years to get Long March 9 flying, because that is how long they estimate it will take SpaceX to get Starship/Super heavy flying, with all of the red tape being thrown at them, and work out all of the bugs, so that they can then steal it. Not that I am at all jaded or syndical. *Cough.*

  • Concerned

    Continuing to refer to this rocket series as”Long March” commemorates and legitimizes the rise to power of the most murderous regime in all of human history.

    It would be like the Germans calling their first orbital rocket Mein Kampf 1.

    I wish we could stop it.

    I suggest we refer to this new rocket as Shoplifter 9, along with all the others in the series.

  • Questioner

    Musk should be careful with his political statements. Ukrainians are easily resentful. I don’t want any physical harm to come to him.

    “Musk Mocks Zelensky With Meme On War Aid | How Tesla Boss Went From Backing To Berating Ukraine”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zJmg11t5i8

  • Gary

    Here’s a summary of the Biden admin and Musk.

    https://x.com/greg_price11/status/1710042810613743647?s=46

    “ Just so we’re keeping score: The Biden DOJ is suing SpaceX for not hiring refugees, the DOJ and SEC are investigating Tesla, the EEOC is also suing Tesla, the FTC demanded @elonmusk hand over internal Twitter comms and the SEC is now investigating Elon’s purchase of Twitter.”

  • Edward

    In the interview with Musk, he mentions that SpaceX is talking to scientists about launching a large orbital telescope on Starship. This is the kind of thing that Congress probably had in mind when they demanded NASA make a heavy launch vehicle, back in 2010. Unfortunately, Congress specified the mass to be launched but not that it be an affordable launch vehicle.

    Fortunately, commercial space companies are working on affordable launch options, so this large telescope could conceivably be affordable.

  • Questioner

    Max: Thank you. I sent the link to several Ukrainians I know personally. Maybe it will open their eyes.

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