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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.

 

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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.


Starship prototype #11 launch attempt today-SCRUBBED

Starship #11 on launchpad, March 26, 2021
Screen capture from LabPadre Nerdle camera live stream,
taken at 8:30 am (Pacific).

UPDATE: The test flight has been scrubbed for today, March 26th. They have not yet indicated why they scrubbed, or when they will try again.

Original post:
——————
Though SpaceX has not yet announced whether it will live stream the event, the company is going to attempt a six-mile flight of its eleventh Starship prototype today.

The following live streams are presently available if you wish to watch:

I will add other live streams as they become available. And if If SpaceX adds its own live stream I will embed it below.

UPDATE: SpaceX has now announced that it will live feed today’s Starship test flight. I will embed that broadcast below, when it goes live.

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

7 comments

  • V-Man

    Other live streams:

    Marcus House – https://youtu.be/Uzf2RDEC49g
    What About It – https://youtu.be/PgOxxS_jJRE (he’s playing with a giant 3D-printed model of a Raptor right now, keen!)

    Surprised that Everyday Astronaut is not online…

  • V-Man: It appears these two live streams are simply using the LabPadre feed.

  • mrsizer

    Just to be sure I understand, Starship is not really intended to launch itself into orbit, right? It’s meant be the payload on a Falcon Heavy.

    This is basically testing a super-big crew capsule. Nominally, if it flies on its own on the way up, it’s the launch abort system. It is intended to land – and then get put on top of another (or even the same!) Falcon Heavy for the next trip up.

    This is also the Raptor engine test-bed, which means the Falcon Heavy should (hopefully) have a short test cycle because any Raptor problems are being worked out here/now.

    Thanks,
    -Mark

  • mrsizer: Starship is the upper stage, yes. However, its lower stage is not Falcon Heavy, but Super Heavy, which is being developed also at Boca Chica.

  • Jeff Wright

    Super-Heavy, not Starship is what is aimed at SLS.

    It is hard to tell a rocket’s size due to them always being framed up well. Having someone in a rocket garden, and having same person at Boca might help. Starship is about as tall and wider than the entire Soyuz/R-7 launch vehicle stack!

  • It appears the wings (fins?) on the upper stage are more closely folded against the body than previous versions. Would appreciated commentary from the experts.

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