Scroll down to read this post.

 

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


Russian filmmakers describe their experience of filming a movie in space

Capitalism in space: The Russian actress Yulia Peresild and her director Klim Shipenko — who spent twelve days on ISS filming scenes for a science fiction movie — gave a press conference yesterday, describing their experience and what they accomplished.

They shot more than 30 hours worth of footage which will later be edited down to about 30 minutes. “We’ve shot everything we planned,” Shipenko said from the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center outside Moscow.

The 38-year-old US-educated film director said cinema was ready to conquer space. “Cinema is looking for new forms. The cosmos is also ready to welcome various experimentalists,” said Shipenko.

He said his stint on the ISS was full of professional discoveries and added that he would never have been able to shoot on Earth what he had shot in space.

Both regretted that their work scheduled on ISS was so busy that they did not have enough time to look at the views out the station’s windows.

When this movie is finished I wonder if it will get a distribution deal in the west. I certainly would like to see it, and I am certain many other Americans will feel the same.

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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.

 

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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.

 

You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. 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.
 

3. A Paypal Donation:

4. A Paypal subscription:


5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.

3 comments

  • Gary

    Bob, it doesn’t have to get a distribution deal per se. There are so many outlets – Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Youtube, etc. – that almost anything on film gets an audience. We’ll have a chance to see it for sure.

  • V-Man

    Science-fiction? Apart from the storyline (a doc flies to ISS to treat a sick cosmonaut), what is fiction here? They shot on location. :)

    (We’re going to have to re-think the whole SF labeling once we have spaceships and colonies on other planets…)

  • geoffc

    I found the Big Bang Theory’s Soyuz, and ISS models to be surprisingly well done. I am not good enough to find specific mistakes, but it seemed like their mockups were pretty good.

    Curious to see how reality compares.

  • Edward

    The article calls it the “world’s first movie in space,” but I would argue that the documentary Blue Planet fits that description better:
    https://www.si.edu/imax/movie/blue-planet

    Then there is Alan Shepard’s flight in Freedom 7, in which motion pictures of him were taken:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xd9kg-fJ9g#t=245 (~17 minutes relevant)

    However, this movie, the Russian’s “Challenge,” is the first full length movie with a plot. Although I expected “Hollywood” to shoot footage in space, I did not expect this to happen this soon after commercial manned spacecraft became operational. Commercial manned space is expanding much faster than I expected, and I thought I was too optimistic.

    V-Man,
    I suppose this depends upon how you define science fiction.
    https://www.dictionary.com/browse/science-fiction

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction

    Its exact definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers.

    I think that the movie “Marooned” was generally thought to be science fiction despite virtually everything existing at that time (the orbital lab was still a few years away).
    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064639/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

    geoffc wrote: “I found the Big Bang Theory’s Soyuz, and ISS models to be surprisingly well done. I am not good enough to find specific mistakes, but it seemed like their mockups were pretty good.

    They had worked hard to make their Soyuz set realistic. Even their real-life astronaut was impressed.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmvWgcXVLcQ#t=330 (5 minutes are relevant)

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.

 

However, name-calling and obscenities will not be tolerated. First time offenders who are new to the site will be warned. Second time offenders or first time offenders who have been here awhile will be suspended for a week. After that, I will ban you. Period.

 

Note also that first time commenters as well as any comment with more than one link will be placed in moderation for my approval. Be patient, I will get to it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *