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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.
 

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Behind The Black
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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 launches Israeli imaging satellite

SpaceX today successfully launched an Israeli Earth-observation satellite, using its Falcon 9 rocket.

The first stage successfully completed its eleventh flight, touching down softly at SpaceX’s facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base.

This launch completes SpaceX’s 2022 launch year, with a record 61 launches, one more than predicted by the company earlier in the year, and the most ever by a privately owned company.

The leaders in the 2022 launch race:

62 China
61 SpaceX
21 Russia
9 Rocket Lab
8 ULA

The U.S. now leads China 85 to 62, while trailing the rest of the entire world combined 94 to 85. The 85 launches for the U.S. is a new record for a single year, smashing the record of 70 launches set in 1966.

On Monday I will publish my annual full roundup of the state of global launch industry, based on the 2022 numbers.

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

8 comments

  • Dick Eagleson

    The launch and booster landing took place at Vandenberg SFB, not Cape Canaveral.

  • Ray Van Dune

    And the reason for the Vandenberg launching was an unusual westward, i.e. retrograde, trajectory. And the reason for that is…

  • Dick Eagleson: I was up too late last night. :) Now fixed. Thank you.

  • sippin_bourbon

    SpaceX (61) and RocketLab (9) by themselves tied the old record of 70. Add in Astra’s one successful flight this year, and “New Space” has broken the record all by them selves.

  • John hare

    I would like to put Falcon 9 launchers at 63. considering FH. Unfortunately that opens the door for every strap on booster which totally screws the numbers.

  • BtB’s Original Mark

    Hey Bob – thanks in advance for the work you put into this Launch year in review post. For all the Space Journalists & Space YouTubes out there, I don’t think there is anyone else who does this detailed tracking of the global launch industry.

    Regarding global launches, here is a ‘Big Picture’ Question- ‘For what purposes is humanity competing in Space Exploration?’
    Could you provide a best guess percentage using the following categories?

    Military
Civilian

    Orbiting Space Stations
    
Moon missions
    
Astronomy
    
Planetary/Solar System Exploration
    Second question – besides Military, which of the above categories will countries focus their resources on this decade?
    Happy New Year to you & the BtB Community.

  • pzatchok

    The military has no reason to explore space.

    Exploit the Earths orbit yes but those are two different things. And until we start launching stealth satellites for the military placing anything in orbit is just making it an easily visible target for any other space capable nation. Satellites are not as safe as submarines.

    For what purpose does humanity compete in anything? To see who is the best at something. And this simple competition drives more cash involvement from all parties.

    Investment will more than likely go in reverse order of your list.
    Planetary/Solar System Exploration
    
Astronomy
    Moon missions
    Orbiting Space Stations
    Military

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