To read this post please scroll down.

 

As I do every July, it is once again time for my annual anniversary fund-raising campaign to support this website and the work I do here.

 

This year I celebrate Behind the Black’s sixteenth anniversary. In those sixteen years I have done more than 35,000 posts (which means I added more than 2,000 in the last year), with my main focus covering the global space industry and the related planetary and astronomical science that comes from it. Along the way I sometimes also post my thoughts on the politics and culture of the time, partly because I think it is important for free Americans to do so, and partly because those politics and culture have a direct impact on the future of our civilization and its on-going efforts to explore and eventually colonized the solar system.

 

You can’t understand one without understanding the other.

 

For those who still wish to support my work, please consider donating or subscribing to Behind the Black, either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. 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
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652

 

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.


Yestertainment – The Cox .049: the engine that modern America banned

An evening pause: This bit of technological history with a sad ending.

Hat tip Blair Ivey.

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

2 comments

2 comments

  • Alex Andrite

    KILL ME ..!
    Love your site Mr.Z.
    This single post took me way back. WAY BACK !!
    Especially just after having watched the succesful … “THE Launch”.
    Congrats SpaceX.

    Now back to the neighborhood elementary school play ground.
    Wow, did I ever have the nicks and cuts on my “prop flip ignition” finger.
    And the aroma of that fuel can juice was so lovely.
    Later in life I pondered if it was my .409 fuel, or agent orange from the other side of the world and my life.

    THEN the crazy twirling about with the plane guide lines in my grip !!
    THEN the crazy death spirial of my plane embedding itself into the local playground fat grass turf.
    Instant silence. I could only stagger vetrtigo impared over to the impact site.

    Well, not much better than that, back to the repair desk.

    Thanks Mr. Z.

    • BMJ

      I see I’m not the only one who has memories of model airplanes.

      My father was the airplane modeller. When I was younger, I kept my distance, partly because of the noise the engines made and, also, one could easily get hurt from the props. (This was before the Chicken Stick came on the market.)

      Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me and I started building my own airplanes. I began with some simple hand gliders and made my way through rubber-powered models. I never did get to building an engine-powered plane as I got sidelined with university studies and, later, earning a living.

      It saddens me that yet another part of my youth is now gone forever.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Readers: the rules for commenting!

No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.

However, name-calling and obscenities will not be tolerated. First time offenders who are new to the site will be warned. Second time offenders or first time offenders who have been here awhile will be suspended for a week. After that, I will ban you. Period.

Note also that first time commenters as well as any comment with more than one link will be placed in moderation for my approval. Be patient, I will get to it.

Formatting buttons insert safe HTML. Links and comments with more than one link will still be moderated.