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My February birthday fund-raising campaign for Behind the Black it now over. I sincerely and with deep gratitude thank all those who donated. Without your support I could not keep doing this, not so much because of the need for income to pay the bills, but because it tells me that there are people out there who want me to do this work. For those who did not contribute during the campaign, please consider adding your vote of support to Behind the Black, by giving either a one-time contribution or a regular subscription, in any one of the following ways:

 

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. Donate through Gabpay, using my email address zimmerman @ nasw dot org.
 

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SpaceX stacks Starship on Superheavy on orbital launchpad

Starship mounted by tower on Superheavy

Capitalism in space: SpaceX for the first time used the giant arms on the launch tower at its Boca Chica orbital launchpad to stack Starship on top of Superheavy, with the fully stacked giant rocket to act as a backdrop to Elon Musk’s update on the project scheduled for airing tonight at 8 pm (Central).

You can see a time lapse of the several hour process here.

The use of a launch tower to stack a rocket is apparently a first, and provides solid evidence that SpaceX’s plan to catch Superheavy with that tower and put it on the ground has a chance of success.

SpaceX has not yet announced how Musk’s presentation will be aired, but when this information is available I will embed it on Behind the Black.

Conscious Choice cover

Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!

 

From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.

 
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.  
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.

 

“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of founder of the Mars Society.

 

All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. The ebook can also be purchased direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.

 

Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from me (hardback $24.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $5.00). Just email me at zimmerman @ nasw dot org.

8 comments

  • Typo alert: Last sentence: “embedded” should be “embed it.”

  • Michael McNeil: Typo fixed. Thank you.

  • JhonB

    I was suprised when I went to the web cam today and saw it. I have been waiting to see this for a while. I know they did it some months past, but took it down right away and I missed it. She’s a beauty…
    Ohhh, Nooo, am I allowed to say “She’s” Did I offend someone or make some one have to go to a safe space? (G)

  • Andi

    JhonB – It depends on what the rocket identifies as.

  • Questioner

    Congratulations: I didn’t expect these monster arms to be able to work with this level of precision. It would be interesting to find out how the alignment went in detail with which technical aids. The auxiliary arm seemed to play a role in this.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S65P4plylo4

  • Questioner

    A handful of heat shield tiles were expelled off when Ship 20 was placed on top of the booster 4. Just a little thing.

  • Michael

    JhonB

    While on a trip overseas I passed a coffee shop with a poster in the window explaining why ships were always referred to as “she”; about eight or nine reasons were given. I went in to see the proprietress – very nice lady (although clearly not Russian). I explained that while I agreed with the poster in general I did have one question. She asked me what the question was and I responded “why is ‘she’ referred to as a ‘Man-o-War’ “?

    The whole conversation ended in a few laughs and coffee.

  • Jeff Wright

    What gets me is how Starship-SuperHeavy looks to be the true heir to the B-36 Peacemaker….with Cena’s Suicide Squad character in the cockpit….saying the rest of aerospace history has now been retconned out of existence
    B-36 and Atlas had a baby Starship-and that’s all. SR-seventy-who? Shuttle-what?

    There was the Gooney Bird, the B-36, Atlas and SS/SH…and that’s it for the history books!

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