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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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Virgin Orbit shuts down

Unable to secure new funding, the managers of Virgin Orbit have shuttered the company, possibly forever.

Virgin Orbit is ceasing operations “for the foreseeable future” after failing to secure a funding lifeline, CEO Dan Hart told employees during an all-hands meeting Thursday afternoon. The company will lay off nearly all of its workforce. “Unfortunately, we’ve not been able to secure the funding to provide a clear path for this company,” Hart said, according to audio of the 5 p.m. ET meeting obtained by CNBC.

The layoffs include all but 100 positions, about 85% of its workforce.

The company was killed because the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) took an extra six months approving a launch license, during which the company could launch nothing and thus make no money. Lacking revenue, it ran out of cash. If the company goes into bankruptcy, this detail is most intriguing:

Branson has first priority over Virgin Orbit’s assets, as the company raised $60 million in debt from the investment arm of Virgin Group.

In other words, Branson will be able to walk off with everything, and even resurrect the company as his own, for pennies on the dollar. If he does, I guarantee our bankrupt mainstream press will shower him with praise, calling him a hero.

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

8 comments

  • Willi

    Perhaps I should contact my broker about getting a physical stock certificate for the 30 shares of VORB I own. Such a piece of paper might have value in the distant future as a memento of the dawn of the space age…

  • wayne

    October 2020:
    “To date, many millions of share certificates in the U.S. capital market have been dematerialized. With concerted effort and the help of the transfer agent community, DTCC believes a realistic target in the next three years would be the full dematerialization of 98%+ of all physical stock certificates,” the company said in its announcement.”

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomgroenfeldt/2020/10/15/paper-securities-still-exist-and-dtcc-is-after-them/?sh=6ab3783435e9

  • Jeff Wright

    Elon is no better–

    “Deja Vu: Twitter locks out The (New York) Post over story on removal of 5K tweets.” Few that are moral become rich-and fewer that are rich are ever moral.

    Ayn Rand’s writings have only one use-as toilet paper.

    Cast away your idols.

  • john hare

    Jeff,

    Your comments seem to be disconnected from reality much of the time. That there are others with other illusions does not mitigate your issues.

  • Gary H

    Elon is a visionary with a great work ethic. I doubt that his CV claims sainthood.

    Will he take criticism and use what he thinks valuable? We will see.

  • sippin_bourbon

    NY Post has tons of posts in the last 24 hours, so they do not appear to be locked out of anything.

  • sippin_bourbon

    Back on topic,
    CNBC has a perspective on the failure of VO.
    Not quite a post-mortem, as I think this is all from the outside looking in.
    https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/31/virgin-orbit-what-went-wrong.html

    This line is noteworthy, in my mind.
    “Some people within the company who had been critical of Virgin Orbit’s execution pointed to several executives’ backgrounds at Boeing, which has had its share of space-related snags over the years.”

    The next paragraph then goes on to name the Chief Executive, Operations and Strategy Officers as all three Boeing alumni.

    It also mentions a key contract that was lost, as well as poor purchasing/material stock management.

    Old Space people trying to run what could have been a New Space agency. I wonder if they were so used to the government teat that they just assumed that there would be a bountiful bailout. (speculation on my part).

    I get the feeling the article is just scratching the surface.

  • Jeff Wright

    If bending people over and flushing them is Branson’s style—maybe he could invest in this:
    https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2023/04/insert-and-blast-off.html?m=1

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