Scroll down to read this post.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. I keep the website clean from pop-ups and annoying demands. Instead, 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.
 

3. A Paypal Donation:

4. A Paypal subscription:


5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.


SpaceX completes new round of crew Dragon parachute tests

Capitalism in space: SpaceX this week completed a new round of crew Dragon parachute tests, meeting a goal they had announced in October.

This clearly paves the way for the January 11th launch abort test, followed by the first manned flight, as soon as February or March 2020, according to the article at the link.

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

  • David K

    I really hope that the Dragon and Starliner get humans to orbit next year.

    Bob, if this happens any chance can we get a separate ranking for number of people sent to space per country/company instead of just the number of launches?

  • David K: Eventually some count like this might make sense, but probably not at first. Not that many will go up.

    Though I might change my mind, as we hopefully will have the Russians, Chinese, Indians, and Americans doing this.

  • Milt

    This morning I was thinking about the deeper meaning of the upcoming manned Dragon and Starliner flights in the context of Bob’s repost of his commentary on the Apollo 8 mission. As he observes:

    “[Anders’] perspective was that of a spacefarer, an explorer of the universe that sees the planets around him as objects within that universe in which he floats.

    When we here are on Earth frame the image with the horizon on the bottom, we immediately reveal our limited planet-bound perspective. We automatically see ourselves on a planet’s surface, watching another planet rise above the distant horizon line.

    This difference in perspective is to me the real meaning of this picture. On one hand we see the perspective of the past. On the other we see the perspective the future, for as long humanity can remain alive.”

    So, too, these upcoming flights will also mark an important boundary, a profoundly significant dividing line between the time when access to space was for a tiny, carefully limited minority of the people on this planet and a future in which almost anyone might go. And, as Bob might say, it also reflects a demarcation between a nondemocratic, statist approach to space exploration / utilization and a free market, anybody can buy a ticket philosophy. Fifty years on, the “promise” of space that all of us read about as kids may about to become a reality, thanks to Dragon and Starliner, and this might just be the best present that Santa ever put under the tree.

    At any rate, no one should underestimate just how great a change this will be. Again quoting Bob, “On one hand we see the perspective of the past. On the other we see the perspective the future, for as long humanity can remain alive.”

    Merry Christmas and best wishes to all of those who have been involved in making Dragon and Starliner a reality. You have indeed given us “the future.”

    Milt

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.

 

However, name-calling and obscenities will not be tolerated. First time offenders who are new to the site will be warned. Second time offenders or first time offenders who have been here awhile will be suspended for a week. After that, I will ban you. Period.

 

Note also that first time commenters as well as any comment with more than one link will be placed in moderation for my approval. Be patient, I will get to it.

Leave a Reply

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