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Readers!

 

It is now July, time once again to celebrate the start of this webpage in 2010 with my annual July fund-raising campaign.

 

This year I celebrate the fifteenth anniversary since I began Behind the Black. During that time I have done more than 33,000 posts, mostly covering the global space industry and the related planetary and astronomical science that comes from it. Along the way I have also felt compelled as a free American citizen to regularly post my thoughts on the politics and culture of the time, partly because I think it is important for free Americans to do so, and partly because those politics and that culture have a direct impact on the future of our civilization and its on-going efforts to explore and eventually colonize the solar system.

 

You can’t understand one without understanding the other.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent independent analysis you don’t find elsewhere. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn’t influenced by donations by established companies or political movements. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.

 

You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:

 

4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
 
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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 the first launch in 2022

Capitalism in space: SpaceX today successfully launched 49 Starlink satellites, thus completing the first launch in 2022.

The first stage landed safely, completing its third flight.

It appears SpaceX alone could have as many as five launches in January, suggesting that 2022 will get off to a very fast start.

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

5 comments

  • Jason Rose

    Bob – slight error – its 2022 :-)

  • Jason Rose: Thank you. Habits die hard. All fixed.

  • Jeff Wright

    Russia’s Baikonur is having Kazakh problems…or vice-versa. Abandoning national assets could make this Putin’s Afghan pull-out. Maybe the unrest was behind the recent UAE deal.

    The UAE may deal with Israel with smiles-or maybe Kazakhs are their North Korean proxies–all of a sudden…R-7 looks even more like a minaret…if not the tallest spire of the Iron City of Dis bursting out of the Earth.

  • Questioner

    We all love the living god Elon Musk for his exploits and technical daring (see current developments in Boca Chica). But it is very good for your own mental health to make fun of Musk (not only for fanboys!) when you get the chance. This funny video offers the opportunity again!

    “Elon Musk Invents UNDERGROUND Traffic Jam!”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JDCBSNqZg8

  • Questioner: You will cease the name-calling, now. I am tired of you referring to anyone who expresses admiration of Musk and his effort as a “fanboy”. It is insulting, and inappropriate, especially on this site. Those who comment here have made it quite clear that they admire him for rational reasons, and are also aware of his faults.

    Similarly, just because Edward rationally disagrees with you about labeling the U.S. as an empire does not justify suggesting he is now “bordering on madness.”

    You will stop. You will treat those you are debating with respect. Do it again and I will suspend you for a week.

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.

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