To read this post please scroll down.

 

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
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652

 

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.


ULA begins stacking Atlas-5 rocket for launching the first manned mission of Starliner

ULA has begun to assemble the Atlas-5 rocket that will hopefully launch Boeing’s Starliner capsule on its first manned mission to ISS, presently targeting a late April lift-off.

The rocket’s main stage was transferred from the nearby Advanced Spaceflight Operations Center to the integration facility Wednesday, Feb. 21, where it will await integration with the rocket’s upper Centaur stage and Starliner. The spacecraft will carry NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the orbiting laboratory for a short stay of about one to two weeks before returning to a landing site in the southwest United States.

The late April date appears to be a slight delay from previous announcements.

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

5 comments

  • Ray Van Dune

    I assume all remaining Atlas-5 launches will use up the Russian RD-180 engines that remain available to ULA. Is there an announced plan to transition Starliner launches to another booster / engine combo? I would assume Vulcan / BE-4 would be used, but I can’t find that documented anywhere.

    Ps. Just a nit: “ULA has begun to assembly…” should probably be “ULA has begun to assemble…”

  • Ray Van Dune: Typo fixed. Thank you.

    As for future Starliner launches, I am pretty sure they will fly on Vulcan.

  • geoffc

    Actually, with the requirement for 6 more Starliner missions, my understanding is they reserved an Atlas V booster for each mission. (Out of the remaining 17 or so left). The move to Vulcan will likely come via NASA funding to manrate it.

    Interesting that they are stacking a booster in Feb for a launch in April. Unlike the SpaceX CRS mission this weekend, which was probably stacked earlier this week.

  • John

    I do not believe that Starliner is ready for manned flight and am surprised that it is allowed. Good luck, you’re going to need it.

  • Edward

    geoffc wrote: “Interesting that they are stacking a booster in Feb for a launch in April. Unlike the SpaceX CRS mission this weekend, which was probably stacked earlier this week.

    Part of it is a difference in philosophies. SpaceX operates with a sense of urgency and sees no reason to dawdle. Since it is worth doing, do it right away. In fact, the company needs to get the rocket stack out of the way so that they can start preparing for the next launch, which may be less than a week away. It is how to keep up a high launch cadence. Since the Atlas rocket does not have a high launch cadence, there is no hurry getting the stack out of the way of the next launch. There is less sense of urgency in the ULA corporate culture. Northrup Grumman’s culture may also lack the same sense of urgency.

    Another part is that this is the first manned flight, and greater care must be taken to assure that the procedures are not only followed but are truly correct. A little extra time is placed in the schedule to account for problems that occur because this is the first time. This is the first manned flight for this entire team. In the future, they may be able to take two or three weeks off this schedule, once they are familiar and comfortable with the operation.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *