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Readers!

 

The time has come for my annual short Thanksgiving/Christmas fund drive for Behind The Black. I must do this every year in order to make sure I have earned enough money to pay my bills.

 

For this two-week campaign, I am offering a special deal to encourage donations. Donations of $200 will get a free autographed copy of the new paperback edition of Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, while donations of $250 will get a free autographed copy of the new hardback edition. If you desire a copy, make sure you provide me your address with your donation.

 

As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.

 

In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.

 

Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.

 

Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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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The launch of two satellites to study the Van Allen radiation belts has been delayed again, this time due to weather.

The launch of two satellites to study the Van Allen radiation belts has been delayed again, this time due to weather.

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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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

3 comments

  • Chris Kirkendall

    Just got back from Cocoa Beach (just down the road from the Cape) for some beach fun & boogie boarding, left early because of weather from TS Isaac. I planned it for this past week to coincide with the Atlas V launch & got up early both Fri & Sat & was sorely disappointed it didn’t go. The beaches all up & down the area were full of people for the launch – really surprised me to see so many folks willing to get up well before dawn for a non-manned launch ! This tells me interest & support for the space program are still very high. Everyone I talked to was very upset with this Admin’s obvious “lack of interest” (to put it mildly) in spaceflight…

  • Chris Kirkendall

    Wow – thanks for that, Bob – I must’ve missed that article on the shuttle launch. I’m so sorry I was never in or near FL when a shuttle (or any manned) launch took place. As an avid follower & supporter of the Space Program, I should’ve made a special trip at some point. I think we got a bit jaded by the regularity of manned spaceflight & how sort of “routine” it seemed & kind of assumed there’d always be another launch to catch later. Now that there are NO manned flights to look forward to, I’m suddenly acutely aware of what I’ve missed. But with the recent success of SpaceX’s Falcon/Dragon & the coming launch of Orion & other COTS program vehicles, maybe we’ll have a crewed launch to look forward to in the not-too-distant future…

    Of course, living fairly far from KSC, if I make the trip & the launch is posponed (as just happened with the Atlas V launch), there’s not much opportunity to return for the reschedule. Anyway, thanks again for this – proves that YES, there really is still a LOT of support for Space exploration…

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