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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.


On the radio

If you find yourself bored after watching the first hour of this year’s State of the Union speech by Trump, you can always switch channels and listen to me on The Space Show with David Livingston. tonight! I will be on from 7 pm to 9 pm (Pacific), talking about a whole range of topics.

I would also encourage my readers to call in with questions and thoughts. The give and take of conversation makes things so much more 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 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

6 comments

  • Ian C.

    I enjoyed the SOTU (Pelosi was a bit disrespectful in the end by ripping Trump’s transcript, what a silly move, it won’t help them, which I enjoy even more) and later switched to the Space Show for the first time. That’s really nice stuff, I should do that more often. Looks like the questions coming in via call or email are thematically open, is that the usual case? What kind of questions do you like the most (e.g. current events, concrete people/companies, domestic policy or foreign affairs issues related to space)?

  • wayne

    Ian–
    Good stuff!
    Dr. Space has an extensive audio archive–check out Mr. Z’s previous appearances.

    Only had a chance to listen to the live stream briefly tonight, but… my download software was able to capture the stream and (and more importantly) recombine it into a playable mp3 file, so have that queued up right after I listen to the Mark Levin Show.

    pivoting back to Nancy Pelosi—
    Carl Orff
    –the appropriate bits-
    [Latin and English]
    https://youtu.be/O5b7tgkdFH0?t=152

    “It is written in Truth, that She has a fine head of hair,
    but, when it comes to seizing an opportunity,
    she is bald.

  • Ian C. There are no call screeners. Callers can ask anything they want, though the focus of the Space Show is always supposed to be about space exploration and any related science.

    I am quite willing to field any question. I like the challenge, and am quite willing to say I don’t know, when I don’t. Most of the time, however, I can give an informed response. Lots of fun.

  • Ian C.

    wayne, thanks for pointing out the archives. Will check ’em out.

    Bob, that sounds good. Requires some timezone management for me to tune in live, but when I do, I’ll see to call-in with interesting questions.

  • wayne

    Mr. Z.,
    “gold-rush,”
    — the guy who sold the shovels got rich, as well as the bartender. (and the local working-girls)

    The Problem of Power in Space.
    NASA’s New Kilopower Reactor
    –Fraser Cain 2018
    https://youtu.be/m2IiI4UVZP8
    13:14

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