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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
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.


SpaceX completes 2nd launch in less than 16 hours

Capitalism in space: SpaceX tonight successfully completed its second Falcon 9 launch in less than 16 hours (the company’s shortest time between launches), putting the communications satellite Turksat-5B into orbit.

The first stage successfully landed on the drone ship, completing its third flight. Both fairings flew their second flight.

More important, this was the 30th successful launch for SpaceX in 2021, which not only continues to extend its record for the most launches ever in a single year by a private company, it also exceeds the company’s prediction of 29 launches for ’21.

The leaders in the 2021 launch race:

48 China
30 SpaceX
22 Russia
6 Europe (Arianespace)
5 ULA
5 Rocket Lab

China now leads the U.S. 48 to 47 in the national rankings. This was the 126th successful launch in 2021, putting it in a tie for the third best year in rocketry since Sputnik.

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

10 comments

  • wayne

    I’m seeing that SpaceX will be launching to the ISS on the 21st as well.

  • Diane Wilson

    And 99th successful landing.

  • Ray Van Dune

    Yes, Diane Wilson, that 100th recovery will be a truly amazing milestone, especially since nobody else has done it, except with a big fat * beside it!

    * suborbital inverted bungee-jump

  • Jeff Wright

    If is wasn’t for the LOX/transport/Covid crap, we’d be ahead.

  • The 99th recovery is not exactly unremarkable.

  • geoffc

    With the upcoming launch on Tuesday using a new core, this year will have flown 2 new cores, and 29 reflights. That is quite an accomplishment as well.

    29/30 so far have succesfully landed (only one not landed this year).

    Total lbs to orbit is 289tons (minus CRS on Tuesdays mass).
    Compared to last years 250t, and prior to that, the previous 3 years were about 90t each year. So 3 times the payload to orbit of just last year.

    Quite impressive. And one core at 11 flights, one at 10, and 2 at 9 is also quite impressive.

    Some amazing stats on this year.

  • Edward

    Bill Whittle, Steve Green, and Scott Ott talk about why Elon Musk is the Man of the Century:
    https://rumble.com/vqy1p6-calling-out-senator-karen-why-elon-musk-is-the-man-of-the-century.html (15 minutes)
    He’s done it. He’s made it cool to be educated, intelligent, ambitious, rich, aggressive, and not put up with any crap from these politicians who’re constantly trying to snuff out people like him. I don’t think he’s ever won a participation trophy in his life.

    They like his attitude and his leadership. In essence, Musk brings world-changing ideas to life.

    SpaceX has launched twice in 16 hours. It was only a few years ago that ULA bragged about launching twice in six days, and like these Falcon launches, one was from the Eastern Range and one from the Western Range.

    It has been a long time since space exploration has advanced this much, and the rest of the world is advancing with it.

  • wayne

    Iron Man (2008)
    “Tony Stark Was Able To Build This…” scene
    https://youtu.be/H4oHU3RXjiM

  • TallDave

    amazing that no one else is even close to reusable rockets even after 99 recoveries

    not even a full-scale test in the planning stage

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