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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
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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 requests special election to make Starbase at Boca Chica a city

In a letter [pdf] sent yesterday to a local judge, SpaceX requested that a special election be held in Cameron County on whether its Starbase facilities in Boca Chica should be incorporated as a city.

To continue growing the workforce necessary to rapidly develop and manufacture Starship, we need the ability to grow Starbase as a community. That is why we are requesting that Cameron County call an election to enable the incorporation of Starbase as the newest city in the Rio Grande Valley.

Incorporating Starbase will streamline the processes required to build the amenities necessary to make the area a world class place to live—for the hundreds already calling it home, as well as for prospective workers eager to help build humanity’s future in space. As you know, through agreements with the County, SpaceX currently performs several civil functions around Starbase due to its remote location, including management of the roads, utilities, and the provision of schooling and medical care for the residents. Incorporation would move the management of some of these functions to a more appropriate public body.

The letter went on to list the many other things SpaceX is already doing to benefit the area, including many of the environmental requirements imposed on it by the FAA and Fish & Wildlife.

At this moment there has been no response from the judge or Cameron County. I suspect there will be no objection, and this vote will take place in the near future. I also expect it will pass, because SpaceX employees now make up almost the entire population of Boca Chica.

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

9 comments

  • wayne

    Sometimes, it’s better if you keep the Town, in the family.

    Henry Ford’s Northern Michigan Operations
    The Utopian Sawmill Community of Alberta, Michigan
    https://youtu.be/KgrlU6D4l-s
    (17:42)

    “When Henry Ford needed wood and iron ore, he turned to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula — and ended up buying and building entire towns in the process.”

  • Michael

    While this may sound fine in theory the concept does scare me bit. I may be too un-trusting, but how long will it be before the “appropriate public body” becomes infiltrated or influenced by foes of SpaceX?

  • Richard M

    Company Town!

  • Robert Pratt

    Just a way for new residents to perpetually vote tax increases on themselves until they make it more expensive than where they moved from.

  • DJ

    Hershey PA and Kohler Wisconsin are two other company towns. Makes me think to Tennessee Ernie Ford and “16 Tons”.

  • wayne

    Ditto for Mr. Pratt.
    Not my money but, SpaceX should just build all the infrastructure and keep the government out of it as much as possible.

    DJ–
    “Kohler, Wisconsin,” I was not aware of that one! Thanks.

    Here’s a good one….

    Mentha, Michigan (West of Kalamazoo, MI)
    “Peppermint Capital of the World”
    https://youtu.be/GvNe001khX4?t=286

    “In 1901 A.M. Todd purchased 2,000 acres of land in Michigan and began growing peppermint. By 1920 the A.M. Todd Company produced 98% of all peppermint used in the United States, most of it going to Chicago for Wrigley’s double mint gum. At its peak. A.M. Todd grew over 10,500 acres of peppermint. “Todd’s Black Mitchum English Peppermint” being the predominate variety, known for its high peppermint oil content.”

  • pzatchok

    Its more than likely a way to take more local power away from outside forces.

    If they have local elected officials they might gain more power over their local environment.

    Essentially adding a layer of government for defensive reasons.

  • Allan

    Don’t be surprised if Elon runs for mayor of Starbase, Texas. Mayor Musk – has a ring to it.

  • pzatchok

    He will never run for office.

    He has far more power and autonomy pulling the strings from a distance.

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