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Readers!

 

The time has come for my annual short 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.

 

Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.

 

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Russia launches radar imaging satellite

Russia today used its Soyuz-2 rocket to place into orbit a radar imaging satellite, lifting off from its Vostochny spaceport in the far east.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

34 SpaceX
19 China
8 Russia
5 Rocket Lab

American private enterprise still leads China 39 to 19 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 39 to 34.

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

3 comments

  • tregonsee314

    And looking at that American flight list ~7/8 of it is SpaceX. Oh and by the way they are equal with the rest of the world. Love or hate SpaceX you have to admit that is DARNED impressive. If NASA would take the thumb out of its backside and hand the 5 Billion for SLS to SpaceX and get the FAA of its way we might see a moon base by the end of the decade. But the odds of that under the current administration is effectively 0. And given SLS provides fodder to all sorts of congressional districts even IF we change the administration the odds of that happening are about the same of a paper dog surviving at the source of an X class flare.

  • tregonsee 314: You should check my page again. SpaceX did another launch today, and now leads the rest of the world combined, excluding other American companies.

  • tregonsee314

    I do check it from time to time and I appreciate your information and this blog iun general. It is clear that NASA (particularly under this administration, but even before to some degree) doesn’t want to yield control and go back to being something like NACA. I’d like to see competition on the rocket but Blue Origin doesn’t seem serious with getting New Glenn as BE-4 is still languishing. Boeing cant get out of its own way on Starliner and in the long run if it rides Vulcan it also needs the BE-4. Starship is a gutsy move by SpaceX and it would be a major game changer. With the FAA (and EPA?) fighting tooth and nail though it will be hard to test the way SpaceX did it with Falcon 9.

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

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