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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.

 

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ULA completes its 4th launch this year and last Atlas-5 launch for the Space Force

Though ULA’s Atlas-5 rocket still has a number of launches on its manifest before it is retired, early this morning the company successfully completed the last Atlas-5 launch for the Space Force, the rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

This was ULA’s fourth launch in 2024, the most in a year for the company since 2022. The leader board for this year’s launch race remains unchanged:

74 SpaceX
31 China
8 Rocket Lab
8 Russia

American private enterprise however now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 87 to 47, while SpaceX by itself still leads the entire world combined, including American companies, 74 to 60.

Note: A Rocket Lab that had been scheduled for today has been delayed two days.

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

6 comments

  • Steve White

    Imagine if SpaceX wasn’t around, and the USA (ULA and others) had but 13 launches to show for the year.

  • Ray Van Dune

    Every time I see a non-Falcon launch now I feel like something is missing… oh yeah, the landing! Funny how strange it is to see everyone else just throw their multimillions in hardware away, when it used to be so perfectly normal!

  • mkent

    ”Imagine if SpaceX wasn’t around, and the USA (ULA and others) had but 13 launches to show for the year.”

    Aaahhh, no. If SpaceX weren’t around the NASA and Space Force payloads they launch would instead be launched by ULA.

    ”Funny how strange it is to see everyone else just throw their multimillions in hardware away…”

    Not strange at all. It’s perfectly normal. No one else launches enough for reusability to pay for itself.

  • john hare

    mkent
    July 30, 2024 at 1:50 pm
    ”Imagine if SpaceX wasn’t around, and the USA (ULA and others) had but 13 launches to show for the year.”

    Aaahhh, no. If SpaceX weren’t around the NASA and Space Force payloads they launch would instead be launched by ULA.

    ”Funny how strange it is to see everyone else just throw their multimillions in hardware away…”

    “”””Not strange at all. It’s perfectly normal. No one else launches enough for reusability to pay for itself.””””

    Chicken-egg. They don’t launch enough because they are throwing away expensive gear and passing the cost on to the customer.

  • Jeff Wright

    Exactly.

    Rocket reuse is still brand new from a historical point.

    We who desire rapid space progress think it old hat.

    It will take time.

    Ariane 6s are not obsolete…just another launcher of the usual kind. Patience….

  • Mark

    I won’t watch another ULA launch until they reverse their decision to prohibit photographers from selling photo’s featuring their launches. Fortunately, I won’t be missing much. ;-)

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