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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.


Off caving

Because I am off on a caving project this weekend in the mountains where there is no internet service, I will not be able to approve comments or post anything until I return on Sunday.

The next few days should be most interesting, as there are SpaceX and ULA launches scheduled. The SpaceX launch tonight will place a secret government satellite in orbit while trying to land its first stage. The ULA launch on Saturday will be the last launch for its Delta 2 rocket, which the company is retiring because it costs too much to operate.

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

5 comments

  • LocalFluff

    I know virtually nothing about spelunking. Do you drill in dynamite to blow up free passages of access to blocked parts of the caves?

  • LocalFluff

    When you return from radio silence, this is what you have missed (Trump drank water):
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnE0Q6yFtqg

    I feel like going down in that cave I happen to have nearby where I live. And stay there for contemplation about the world above.

  • Kirk

    Regarding the Delta-II launch, this JPSS-1 mission is its penultimate launch. The final Delta-II mission will be to loft NASA’s ICESat-2, currently scheduled for September 2018.

    Here is the NSF thread for that mission: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=31179.0

  • wayne

    LocalFluff–

    Wile E. Coyote:
    80 explosions in 11 minutes
    https://youtu.be/0R66Fvhx0vQ
    (10:59)

  • Lee S

    Localfluff….
    My Father was a world class caver back in the 60’s and 70’s , and he took me on a few light trips when I was a lad…
    The procedure back then was digging and light explosives were fine when gaining entry to a cave from the surface, and digging was ok inside the cave as long as you didn’t mess up natural formations too much. I presume etiquette has not changed too much in the intervening years..
    Back in those days there was no rope strong, light and non-stretchy enough for long decents, so they dragged 30′ sections of wire rope ladder with them and hooked them together, and no good battery tech, so lighting was provided by carbide lamps..
    As the club photographer my father also had to carry his camera gear with him in ammo tins!
    Apparently the club motto was “If you ain’t hard… you shouldn’t have come” ?
    Good luck on your mission Bob!

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