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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.
 

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
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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.


ULA successfully launches NOAA weather satellite

ULA today successfully launched a new NOAA weather satellite.

The leaders in the 2022 launch race:

8 SpaceX
4 China
2 Russia
2 ULA

The U.S. now leads China 13 to 4 in the national rankings.

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

  • Jeff Wright

    Much better tally…

  • Captain Emeritus

    How much do the russki commies charge ula for the “Atlas” rd-180 motors?

    Asking for a friend.

  • Captain Emeritus: I might have documented it here at BtB. Do a search for RD-180.

    However, it isn’t relevant any longer because ULA isn’t buying any more engines. U.S. law makes it impossible, and the company is transitioning to the Vulcan rocket, which won’t use them.

  • Jeff Wright

    Dynetics wanted to bring back a simplified version of the F-1….but nooo…

  • Max

    The Chinese keeps launching “earth observation satellites”… Does anybody know what they really are?

  • Captain Emeritus

    Mr. Zimmerman,
    I am familiar with the RD-180.
    I think giving aid and comfort to the enemy is always “relevant.”
    Mr. Musk said in 2018, “ I will seriously eat my hat, with a side of mustard, if ULA’s Vulcan flies a national security spacecraft before 2023.”
    The Bezos boondoggle BE-4, has been in development since 2011, but what’s the rush?
    Perhaps, ULA could make a deal with the CCP to launch our national security satellites, while it awaits transition to the “Vulcan,” certainly by 2026?

  • sippin_bourbon

    I think Musk’s dining habits are safe. I just checked the Vulcan wiki page (I know it is wikipedia, so not 100% accurate) the USSF mission is set for Q1 2023.

    It actually makes me makes me angry. (Maybe I have watched too much Angry Astronaut?). Bezos has over promised on BE-4s and New Glenn, just as Boeing over promised and then failed to deliver on Starliner.

    The whole point of multiple awards was to be in a position to have redundancy and competition. Well the proverbial fecal matter is hitting the rotary impeller, and while I have a great deal of confidence in SpaceX, we would be in a better position with a 2nd system.

    Side note, and someone correct me if I am wrong, but Starliner apparently uses some Russian power connection equipment, that now many need replaced?

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