To read this post please scroll down.

 

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 first static fire test of Falcon Heavy core stage

Capitalism in space: SpaceX this week successfully completed the first static fire engine test of the core stage of its Falcon Heavy rocket.

In a tweet, the company said that it completed the first static fire of the core stage of the rocket at the company’s McGregor, Texas, test site last week. The company did not disclose the precise date of the test or its duration. The company included in the tweet a video showing about 15 seconds of the test.

The Falcon Heavy uses three Falcon 9 first stages, or cores, along with an upper stage, an approach similar to United Launch Alliance’s Delta 4 Heavy. The two side booster cores for the first launch will be previously-flown Falcon 9 first stages, but the center core will be a new stage, modified to accommodate the side boosters.

The first launch is scheduled for sometime in the late summer, early fall.

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

  • geoffc

    We know they tested the refurbed/converted Thaicomm-8 core that will be one of the two side boosters. So at least 2/3 tested.

    Surprisingly they will NOT apparently be testing all three together at McGregor, which is a bit surprising since it was assumed that the current test stand (In ground vs on big podium) was designed for testing all three together.

    And never forget to mention.
    – Falcon Heavy 64,000 Kilos to LEO. Around $100 million a launch.
    – SLS – Block 1 – 70,000 Kilos to LEO. $43 billion and counting?

    Can anyone do math in NASA/Congress? Apparently not!!! (I am aware Block 2 will have more capacity. I know that the 43 billion is the total dev cost of Ares, Orion, and SLS, but until they actually launch something those costs are for the first launch).

  • LocalFluff

    @geoffc
    Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar has been around in the space industry. 1:06:00 into the Space Show she answers exactly your question. Or tries to. And she discussed for some time before that point. It’s because of the “architecture” and because only SLS/Orion is capable of deep space flight. And the goal is to cost huge amounts of monies, it’s a good thing. Because it is the government high costs are “strategically” important for maintaining the (outdated) industrial base.

  • Edward

    geoffc wrote: “the 43 billion is the total dev cost of Ares, Orion, and SLS, but until they actually launch something those costs are for the first launch

    Well, technically, until they actually launch something those costs are for zero launches. Just as all the money spent on Ares was for nothing.

  • ken anthony

    Join govt. and you too can twist your brain into a pretzel.

    At what point do the people figure out that SLS vs FH is just a pure example of the corrupt comedy running our lives?

    If Musk built a booster to carry a fully fueled SLS to LEO govt would see that as proof we need SLS.

Leave a Reply

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