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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.
 

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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.


Yawn: Rogozin tweets threats to Musk, Musk shrugs

In yesterday’s non-news Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos which runs Russia’s entire aerospace industry, issued a threat against Elon Musk for supplying the Ukraine Starlink service in its war against the Russian invasion, and Musk responded with an almost cheerful quip.

On Sunday (May 8), Musk posted on Twitter a note that he said Rogozin, the head of Russia’s federal space agency Roscosmos, had sent out to Russian media. The note claimed that equipment for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite-internet system had been delivered to Ukrainian marines and “militants of the Nazi Azov battalion” by the U.S. military. “Elon Musk, thus, is involved in supplying the fascist forces in Ukraine with military communication equipment,” Rogozin wrote, according to an English translation that Musk posted. (He also tweeted out a Russian version.) “And for this, Elon, you will be held accountable like an adult — no matter how much you’ll play the fool.”

This sounds very much like a threat, as Musk acknowledged in a follow-up tweet on Sunday. “If I die under mysterious circumstances, it’s been nice knowin ya,” he wrote. Musk’s mom, Maye, didn’t appreciate that glib response, tweeting, “That’s not funny” along with two angry-face emojis. The billionaire entrepreneur responded, “Sorry! I will do my best to stay alive.” (It was Mother’s Day, after all.)

Musk’s light-hearted response only stands to reason, considering Rogozin’s loud-mouthed track record. Nothing he says really matters, so why should Musk care that much. Musk probably posted Rogozin’s comments out of amusement more than anything else..

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

  • geoffc

    Did you see Musk at the Met Gala? When asked why he was there, his mom jumped in and said because she wanted to and asked him. And he was happy to say he went because his mom wanted to.

    Wealthiest man in the world, about to blow 44 billion dollars, took the time to do something with his mom that she wanted. How nice.

  • Ray Van Dune

    Well, there goes the old “You never want to be seen with me.” gripe! Next thing you know she’ll want to be nose art. At least it would be on a real rocket, not an upside-down bungee ride.

  • Ian C.

    geoffc,

    “took the time to do something with his mom that she wanted.”

    Overbearing moms are holy. Do you think he would run SpaceX and Tesla w/o his mom’s blessing? Who are you kidding…

  • Col Beausabre

    Jewish mothers are famous for this. One of my fraternity brothers claimed he once got a telegram from his mother reading, “Feel guilty. Details to follow.”

  • Chris Lopes

    I suppose it’s progress that the head of Roscosmos now knows that Musk and SpaceX exist. At the beginning of the Russian “adventure” in the Ukraine, this same dude seemed to think he had NASA over a barrel and could deny the agency access to the ISS by not allowing American astronauts to fly on Russian rockets. “Let them fly on broomsticks” I believe was the quote. That worked out well.

  • Patrick Underwood

    Broomsticks and trampolines, oh my!

    Russia… the most schizophrenic nation on this entire planet.

  • Rogozin is just following the Communist stylebook in his statement … might have taken a cue from these guys …

    https://boingboing.net/features/northkorea/?traitor=Elon+Musk

    Next, he’ll be calling Musk an “imperialist running dog” …

  • Steven Carleton

    Hehe, Russia blaming E. Musk for providing space-tech to Ukraine?! NATO has covertly provided Ukraine with GPS and real-time communications and intel. Surely the brilliant Putin expected this, no? His build-up gave us the time needed to fully “wire-up” Ukraine. Now we just keep turning the grinder handle to see how much Vlady can tolerate. I pity the poor unwitting souls swept up in this outrage!

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