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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
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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.


Russians successfully launch Progress to ISS

After a last minute scrub earlier this week, the Russians this morning successfully used their Soyuz rocket to launch a Progress freighter into orbit, bringing supplies to ISS.

It will take the freighter two days to rendezvous with ISS.

This launch extends the Russian leader over SpaceX for the most launches in 2017 to 17-15.

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

  • Richard M

    My guess is that Russia will end up with 19, and SpaceX, 18. (Each has four notional launches on the manifest for the remainder of 2017; fair guess is that Falcon Heavy and the two Rokot launches will slide to 1Q 2018).

    But this is very likely the last year that Russia will end up ahead of SpaceX. How far the mighty have fallen.

  • Kirk

    Today the FCC approved licenses associated with a SpaceX launch from Florida, NET 10 November, with the booster returning to land, which does not align with any payloads on the manifest. There is a lot of guessing going on as to what it is. NSF thread: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=43976.0

  • Edward

    Robert,
    It is kind of fun that you have created another space race, even if it is only we who read your site that watch it unfold. It looks like it could be a photo finish with a win by a nosecone.

  • Edward: Though I started noting the yearly launch race count in January and was among a few that were somewhat ahead of the curve, I’m not the only one now doing it. I think it is the normal consequence of healthy competition: People notice and get involved in the race. It is, as you say, fun!

    A long time ago I wrote an essay for a small comic book fan publication about the importance of fun when we talk about space exploration. We don’t just do it because we learn something new or because it serves the particular interests of our nation. We do it because exploration is fun.

    We must always remember the importance of fun in everything we do. It adds spark to the activity, and keeps us alive.

  • Edward

    Ah, yes. That January 11 post is among my favorite posts. When people ask me how many launches there are each year, I tell them “a little under 100.” I had not realized, before this year, how far that had dropped for a while in the first decade of this century.

    I agree that fun is important. Fun and enjoyment are what spice is for. (Spice in food, spice for life, etc.)

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