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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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SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites

SpaceX tonight successfully launched another 23 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral.

The first stage completed its third flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

92 SpaceX
61 China
17 Russia
8 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise now leads China in successful launches 105 to 61, and the entire world combined 105 to 96. SpaceX now trails the rest of the world combined (excluding American companies) 92 to 96.

This was the 201st launch this year, the first time ever that the global launch industry has exceeded 200 launches. Before 2021, annual global launch totals were generally less than 100. It now looks like there is a good chance they will never again be as low as that. (I should have noted this at the 200th launch, but missed it.)

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

4 comments

  • The other Kyle

    The fact that you Bob of all people missed the noting the 200th launch milestone just goes to show you that we are truly living in the space age where space flight is as routine as airflight.

  • john hare

    I would put the significant thought as the week and a half between SpaceX launches felt like a drought. Especially considering that any other company on the planet would consider a week and a half gap as a blistering pace.

  • Ray Van Dune

    Sad that an American company that showcases our dazzling technical prowess is regarded as a threat by the aged criminal class in DC.

  • Edward

    Ray Van Dune wrote: “Sad that an American company that showcases our dazzling technical prowess is regarded as a threat by the aged criminal class in DC.

    Sad, yes, but expected. The aged criminal class in DC and elsewhere insist upon punishing the successful by taxing away their lawfully, morally, and ethically gotten gains.

    Instead, these aged criminals try to play “Robin Hood” by stealing from the rich (taxing the successful) and giving to the poor (paying the lazy to continue to not work, to not contribute to society).*
    ____________________
    * “Stealing from the rich and giving to the poor” is a marxist misinterpretation to the Robin Hood story. Before the 1930s, the Robin Hood story was that he protected the downtrodden Saxons from the tyrannical Normans, and he stole from the corrupt in order to pay the ransom for King Richard. Watch Errol Flynn’s “The Adventures Of Robin Hood” again.

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

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