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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

The podcast of my thirty minute appearance with Bill Bartholomew in Rhode Island is now available here. His description of our talk:

Bill Bartholomew welcomes Bob Zimmerman, the person behind the website Behind The Black for a conversation on all things space. How might the 2020 elections impact space exploration and technology? What are some of the key issues and projects the U.S. is involved in the space exploration and technology sectors?

Enjoy!

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

  • Thanks, Bob. A pleasure. Look forward to another round.

  • Ted Ferragut

    I just listened to the podcast and was taken back a little bit on Ron going from independent reporter to advocate/marketer for privatization of the space program. Having worked a split career in both government and the private sector, including privatization efforts in transportation, anyone who picks one side over the other had a fundamental lack of knowledge of the depth of issues in true public-private partnerships. Sorry Ron. Stick to reporting facts.

  • Ted Ferragut: Sorry, but it is hard to take your criticism seriously when you can’t even get my name right.

  • Ted Ferragut

    Bob, I sincerely apologize for getting your name wrong. And I have no intent to embarrass you or myself. I am sincere about advocating vs reporting on privatization of space program. A great space program with a privatization component demands a robust and intelligent public sector to maintain effective leadership in space. I believe that Government needs skill and expertise for science exploration, military requirements, international treaties, public safety, and more.. I represented the private sector in transportation privatization and we succeeded where we had strong public sector skills and cooperation. All I am saying.

  • Ted Ferragut: Read my policy paper, Capitalism in Space. Or maybe one or two of my histories. I do not speak from ignorance. Nor do I completely dismiss the need for government. We are supposed to be a nation of laws and limited government. The laws require government to administer them. The government is also responsible for defending that nation. The citizenry, as individuals, are supposed to exercise their own “self-government” (to use Washington’s words) and not rely on that government to manage their own personal lives.

    The problem has and continues to be a government over-reaching its responsibility as described, and a public eager to let it.

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