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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.

 

Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. 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.

 

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SpaceX launches another 22 Starlink satellites

In what is turning into routine clockwork, SpaceX tonight completed its fourth launch in only the first ten days of August, placing 22 Starlink satellites into orbit using its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral.

The first stage completed its ninth flight, landing safely on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The two fairings completed their tenth and eleventh flights respectively. At the time of posting the satellites themselves had not yet been deployed.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

55 SpaceX
33 China
11 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
6 India

American private enterprise now leads China in successful launches 63 to 33, and the entire world combined 63 to 55. SpaceX by itself is now tied with the entire world (excluding American companies) 55 to 55.

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

3 comments

  • john hare

    Amazing that it took until the eighth month of the year for SpaceX to even be tied by the rest of the world. And even get ahead for a few hours yesterday. Reading occasional complaints about SpaceX monopoly should read more about the competition not doing their job. The legacy companies and the ones they acquired had over 4 decades experience before SpaceX was founded, and a half century experience before Falcon9 flight one.

  • John Hare: Actually, SpaceX has been ahead of the rest of the world for most of the time for the last several months. In fact, the tie on this date is the exception, not the rule. For most of the last two months SpaceX has led.

  • Jeff Wright

    It shows you just how rare Elon is.
    Investors run from aerospace due to up-front costs…and most independently rich don’t care for aerospace…or have Elon’s engineering chops.

    Outside of him, other start-ups just get told seven different kinds of “no.”

    Just ask Gary Hudson.

    For years, I have heard folks rail against airlines.

    Then all I heard was the market will solve this, etc.

    Read the book FREE FLIGHT about what happened to Vern Rayburn and the VLJ/air taxi model.

    The large drones look to renew this idea.

    We will see.

    Computer start-ups just need code monkeys…pizzas…and Funko pops.

    I imagine an aviation start up who used a venture capitalist’s money to get tooling, an engineer…and hanger space having this conversation with the VC on his visit:

    “Where’s my airplane?”

    What do you mean ‘where’s my airplane?’

    “What went with all that money?”

    Here it is–

    “I don’t see anything but jigs and empty hanger space! I’m pulling the plug.”

    Lots of little Jack Welsh’s for every big one.

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

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