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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 successfully completes two Starlink satellite launches today

SpaceX today successfully completed two Starlink satellite launches, first putting 21 satellites in orbit from Vandenberg in the early morning hours and then launching another 23 satellites from Cape Canaveral in the evening.

Both first stages successfully landed on their drone ships, respectively in the Pacific and Atlantic. The first completed its sixteenth flight, the second its fourth flight.

The leaders in 2023 launch race:

76 SpaceX
46 China
13 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise now leads China in successfully launches 88 to 46, and the entire world combined 88 to 74. SpaceX by itself now leads the entire world combined (excluding American companies) 76 to 74.

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

12 comments

  • Jeff Wright

    From sea to shining sea….

  • Questioner

    All of these extremely numerous SpaceX launches will be useless if Starlink doesn’t end up making enough money. What do we know about the commercial success of this business idea?

  • Questioner: Your question strongly suggests you don’t come here to learn, but to troll. For five years I have been documenting the viable profitability of both SpaceX and Starlink, in great detail. I have also noted that my reporting is confirmed by the almost $11 billion the investment community has eagerly poured into SpaceX, in support not only of Starlink but of Starship/Superheavy.

    Moreover, I have also stated repeatedly for the past year that the company will fail, if the government doesn’t get out of the way. That failure however will not be because of its lack of “commercial success” but of pure abuse of power by government officials.

    That you act like you don’t know these facts either means you are fooling yourself, or come here solely to troll.

  • pzatchok

    https://www.satellitetoday.com/broadband/2023/09/25/starlink-surpasses-2-million-subscribers/

    If they charge a flat fee of 100 bucks a subscriber they are bring in 200 million a month.
    Less than they projected but still profitable for the equipment in use.
    I can see once the full constellation is on operation they would only have to make a launch a month for replacements.

  • With reference to government getting in the way of SpaceX, Tesla, and other Elon Musk enterprise, the answer is the same as the enforcers from the organized crime, support us (monetarily and politically) or suffer the consequences. if Elon would just join the power cabal, he could do whatever he wants. Use X/Twitter to censor truth and conservatism. Support the queering of America in his companies. And, hire all of the spies that the Powers of The Left want.

  • wayne

    pzatchok-
    ->cash-flow is even better than that; (at my address) standard residential service starts at $120/month.
    (they also have a high-end antenna (like’ $2,500, that goes with their other high-end services)

    https://www.starlink.com/service-plans

  • Richard M

    Starlink 6-24 also set a new mark for heaviest mass delivered to orbit by a Falcon 9. SpaceX keeps testing its limits.

  • DB

    In a rational – or even reactionary – world, Washington would look at the cloud of Starlink units and be begging for Starship to put up some Thor or casaba howitzer about now. Between Iran, Ukraine, Taiwan, and wherever is next.

  • Col Beausabre

    Fourteen to go, 9 weeks…..

  • Richard M Lender

    SpaceX has what looks like…22 Falcon 9/ Falcon Heavy launches still on the schedule for 2023? (Source: RocketLaunch.Live)

    Of course, there is no guarantee all 22 will launch this year.

    If you look at just the last 365 days (as of yesterday), SpaceX has launched 90 rockets in that timeframe, which is a record, of course.

    It’s just astonishing what they are achieving now. Never take it for granted!

  • pzatchok

    I bet Falcon 9/heavy is running at a profit now will soon pay for its development and design. A few years at least.

    Starlink is running at a profit and is more than likely now paying for its total launch and construction costs. Plus paying down any past debts for design,construction and launch.

    200 million a month easily covers the cost of 4 launches a month plus upkeep and satellite construction.

  • Call Me Ishmael

    “Fourteen to go, 9 weeks…”

    That only gets them to 90, not 100.

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