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My February birthday fund-raising campaign for this website, Behind the Black, is now over. Despite a relatively weak initial three weeks, the last week was spectacular, making this campaign the second best ever.

 

Thanks to every person who donated or subscribed. It continues to astonish me that people who can read my work for free like it enough to donate money voluntarily. Words cannot express my appreciation for that support, especially in these uncertain times.

 

If you have been a regular reader and a fan of my work and have not yet donated or subscribed, please consider doing so. I take no ads, I keep the website clean from pop-ups and annoying demands (most of the time). Thus, I depend entirely on my readers to support me. Though this means I am sacrificing some income, it also means that I remain entirely independent from outside pressure. By depending solely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, no one can threaten me with censorship. You don't like what I write, you can simply go elsewhere.

 

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.
 

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September 27, 2022 Quick space links

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who trolls Twitter so I don’t have to.

I will believe it when it actually happens.

Just a cool image.

More specifically, the “Crimean Federal District which will include Crimea and the occupied territories of Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.” If so, Rogozin’s head is essentially being put on the block. Ukrainian partisan forces have been very successful at killing such leaders.

I guess this is a reward by Putin for Rogozin’s skill at losing Russia billions in commercial satellite sales.

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 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

  • Ray Van Dune

    Rumor has it Putin had convinced Bezos to put Rogozin in charge of getting the BE-4 into high-rate production. But when he saw the design, Putin relented and put him in charge of occupied Ukraine instead. Putin reportedly said “Sure, I’m a stone-cold killer, but I just couldn’t do it to the poor guy!”

  • Jeff Wright

    Ha! In lighter news-it looks like a book is in the works on AMT’s best seller:

    https://culttvman.com/main/amts-enterprise-at-55/
    Do a search on “Shaw’s AMT model drawings” and you will find a great drawing of it-Jay Chaldek has a good write-up.

    The Kerr/Casimiro drawings of the 11 foot filming model are top notch.

  • Agenor

    I don’t really get the “Where are my engine, Jeff?” thing that is somewhat going on. Yes, there were delays, but it happens. New Glenn was announced in 2016, same year as Starship.
    Up to this day, none of them reached an Orbit. But that is also true for Ariane 6 and H3, all rockets “from” 2016 with a NET-launch in 2020.
    In late 2018 BO was making it clear that New Glenn won’t fly in 2020. One year later (end of September 2019) E Musk was still talking of doing Orbital Test with the MK-series in half a year (April 2020). Again, none of them were able to reach an Orbit until now. But BO was way more realistic and open about their delays, which is striking because they don’t talk much compared to SpaceX.
    The other point is that normally rockets fly for several decades. The Atlas 5, Delta 4, Ariane 6, H-II, Proton… so another 3 months of delays are bad, but not the end of the world. Probably they will still be used for quite some time.
    I see it this way. If SpaceX for some reason would fall apart (or Starship is nowhere near as an all-rounder as hoped), we would still get a Vulcan that is partially reusable and has some advantages over a falcon 9 (not in every category but they exist). And we get an overall better version of a Falcon Heavy with New Glenn. The expensive days of Atlas 5 and Delta 4 are gone.

    I’m looking forward to all “paper” rockets, knowing very well that some companies will fail, and some won’t have a big impact on the field.
    Every month with get new delays, it is unavoidable. So let’s celebrate the good news. I’m mean, the good news (progress) are the one keeping use interested and exited for this.

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