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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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X-37B sets new in-orbit record

The Space Force’s X-37B reusable mini-shuttle that is presently in orbit has now set a new mission record, spending more than 781 days in orbit.

As of today (July 7), the X-37B has been in Earth orbit for 781 days, breaking its previous record of 780. The reusable vehicle designed and built by Boeing is currently flying on its sixth mission, known as Orbital Test Vehicle-6 or OTV-6, which launched on May 17, 2020.

During this long flight one of the spacecraft’s few unclassified experiments successfully tested the conversion of solar power into beamed microwave energy.

The second X-37B in the fleet remains on the ground, having completed its 780 day mission in October 2019. We also do not know when the military will order the return of the X-37B in orbit. Only then will the mission really be a success.

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

  • Ray Van Dune

    To have sufficient consumables preserved to re-enter and land on a runway after 2+ years in orbit is impressive. Boeing must know how to do a few things that SpaceX has yet to demonstrate, but will certainly need to learn!

  • Scott M.

    Ray, that is very true and what is so very frustrating about current-day Boeing. They can accomplish things like this, but yet when I look at the fiasco which is the Starliner it makes me grind my teeth.

  • Jeff Wright

    These spooky types get the best funding—and won’t share their secrets. Just having those tiles stay adhered to an airframe after years of being cold-soaked and then subjected to re-entry—where Musk can’t keep them on a room temperature?

    This is why I believe in public funding space. Remember how we lost “Fogbank?”

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fogbank

    You have to keep tribal knowledge alive.

    With libertarianism it’s all about money.
    I am concerned with preservation of capability.
    Now, we’re I President, I would have Space Force fund Starship and have the Phantom Works also look at it to get the best of both worlds.

    Starship deserves better than Salvage One tech.

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