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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.

 

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Spacewalk on ISS canceled due to spacesuit issue

Two astronauts on ISS were forced today to abort their spacewalk soon after opening the hatch to go outside because a water issue in one suit.

This is the second time this spacewalk has been aborted. The first time, on June 13, 2024, was canceled due to an unspecified “spacesuit discomfort issue.”

This cancellation might cause a problem with the presently unscheduled return of Starliner, as its June 26, 2024 return was postponed to allow this spacewalk to take place without any schedule conflicts. Or it might simplify Starliner’s return, as the spacewalk will not happen due to spacesuit issues.

Note also that the American suits are old, and prone to these kinds of water leak issues. NASA started a project to replace them fifteen years ago, spent more than a billion on designs, getting nothing built, before abandoning its effort and awarding the project to two private companies.

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

6 comments

  • Richard M

    NASA started a project to replace them fifteen years ago, spent more than a billion on designs, getting nothing built, before abandoning its effort and awarding the project to two private companies.

    I guess the real EVA suits were the friends we made along the way.

  • Ray Van Dune

    Simple – the Crew Dragon that SpaceX sends up to get Butch and Sunny can bring some new suits… and a change of clothes for them too.

  • SamE

    This reminds me of Luca Parmitano nearly drowning during his July 2013 EVA.

  • Dick Eagleson

    The ISS continues its slow decay while NASA continues to botch what few efforts it has made to do anything to update its infrastructure. The only successful such upgrades have come from private-sector suppliers such as the late Bigelow’s BEAM module and the roll-out solar panel upgrades. Axiom and Collins are now in a race with time to get new suits designed and fielded before the badly superannuated antiques now in service seriously injure or kill someone.

  • BLSinSC

    Well sure, NASA is pretty much failing at the SPACE aspects of it’s “mission”, but they’re still going gangbusters on their MUSLIM OUTREACH – right? RIGHT???

    It would be interesting to see how exactly one goes about spending BILLIONS on DESIGNS and STILL end up with NOTHING! First of all you HAD suits that worked MOST of the time so the smart thing to do would be to id the areas of failure and FIX those! I’d guess they were looking for some sleek HOLLYWOOD designs that weren’t feasible! Still though an AUDIT of WHO got the money and WHAT was presented should be made PUBLIC!

  • Mark Sizer

    Still though an AUDIT of WHO got the money and WHAT was presented should be made PUBLIC!

    To what end? Just to pick an example, we know just about everything about the Solyndra boondoggle yet nothing has been done about it.

    To quote a (in)famous person, “at this point, what difference does it make?”

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