Robert Zimmerman

Robert Zimmerman is an award-winning science journalist and historian who has written six books and hundreds of articles on science, engineering, and the history of space exploration and technology. He also reports on space, science, and culture at his website, Behind the Black (http://behindtheblack.com), with millions of readers per month.

His newest book, Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space

(https://behindtheblack.com/conscious-choicethe-origins-of-slavery-in-america-and-why-it-matters-today-and-for-our-future-in-outer-space/)

explains the errors the British made in building their Virginia colony and how those terrible mistakes could inform us in building our own new colonies among the stars. As Robert Zubrin said, "Zimmerman's ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says."

The recommendations Zimmerman made in 2017 policy paper for the Center for a New American Security, Capitalism in Space: private enterprise and competition reshape the global aerospace launch industry (https://behindtheblack.com/books/capitalism-in-space/), have been largely adopted by the government, and have helped generate the fast paced changes being wrought worldwide by the new commercial space industry. His 2008 book, The Universe in a Mirror: the saga of the Hubble Space Telescope and the visionaries who built it (Princeton University Press), tells the story of the people who conceived, built, and saved the Hubble Space Telescope, while his first book, Genesis, the story of Apollo 8 (Mountain Lake Press), available both as an ebook and audiobook (https://behindtheblack.com/books/genesis-the-story-of-apollo-8/),

describes the epic family and political tale behind the first manned mission to another world.

His magazine and newspaper articles have appeared in Astronomy, Air & Space, Science, Natural History, Wired, Invention & Technology and a host of other publications. He has also written op-eds for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Federalist, USA Today, American Greatness, and The National Interest. In 2000 he was co-winner of the David N. Schramm Award, given by the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society for Science Journalism, for his essay in The Sciences, "There She Blows," on the 35-year-old astronomical mystery of gamma ray bursts. His third book, Leaving Earth:

Space stations, rival superpowers, and the quest for interplanetary travel (Joseph Henry Press), won the American Astronautical Society's Eugene M. Emme Astronautical Literature Award in 2003 as that year's best space history for the general public.

Zimmerman has also written one science fiction novel, Pioneer (https://behindtheblack.com/books/pioneer/), telling the thrilling story of one man's effort to make the first contact with aliens beyond the orbit of Jupiter.

In addition to his writing, Mr. Zimmerman is also a cave explorer and cartographer, and has participated in numerous projects exploring and mapping previously unknown caves across the United States. It is this activity that has allowed him to actually "go where no one has gone before," thus providing him a better understanding of the perspective of engineers and scientists as they struggle to push the limits of human knowledge.

Broadcast 1143 (Special Edition)

Guest: Robert Zimmerman. Topics: NASA Administrator, Ares, Orion, Constellation, ISS, space policy, bats, suborbital tourism, Hubble. Bob Zimmerman returned to the Space Show for this program, leading off with a discussion about the significance of the absence of a NASA Administrator. Bob explained some of the problems this creates for our space program, especially long term as we are nearing critical decision points in several of our civil space programs. You will want to hear his comments on this subject. In addition, he had no suggestion or ideas as to the next Administrator.

Broadcast 1076 (Special Edition)

Guest: Robert Zimmerman returned to this Space Show program to honor Apollo 8 on its 40th anniversary and to discuss the state of the space industry as we wind down 2008 and look forward to 2009. Bob suggested that perhaps Apollo 8 and the reading from Genesis on Christmas Eve forty years ago as Borman, Anders,and Lovell orbited the Moon was perhaps the most important space mission of its time. You will want to hear Bob tell the story of Apollo 8, how Genesis was selected to be ready by the astronauts, and the role of NASA PR at the time in the selection of the reading passage.

Broadcast 1035 (Special Edition)

Guest: Robert Zimmerman was the guest for today's Space Show program. We started our discussion with updates on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the shuttle repair mission to the HST. From there, Bob told us about the waiver obtained for allowing NASA to continue using the Soyuz to access the ISS and the letter written by Dr. Griffin to Barack Obama thanking him for his help in obtaining the waiver. Bob speculated that Griffin might be showing Senator Obama that he wants to remain NASA Administrator, even in a possible Obama administration.

Broadcast 981 (Special Edition)

Guest: Robert Zimmerman returned for this Space Show program. In addition to our discussion, we talked about Bob's new book about Hubble, "The Universe in a Mirror," and his terrific older book, "Leaving Earth." We started the interview by discussing a recent Washington Post article in which the author suggested the ISS be used as a spaceship for going someplace interesting rather than just hanging out in LEO. Mr. Zimmerman wrote about this idea years ago in his famous book, "Leaving Earth," so we talked about the feasibility of actually doing something like this with the station.

Broadcast 952 (Special Edition)

Guests: ISDC 2008 Taped Interview #1 with Robert Zimmerman, Dr. Sean Casey, David Faulkner, Reda Anderson, Dr. Haym Benaroya. The first interview features Bob Zimmerman, followed by Dr. Sean Casey with important updates for the NASA SOFIA Project, then David Faulkner who is the Program Manager and CTO for Rocketplane Global. Bob Zimmerman shares his view of the Investment Summit and several important space current events that we discussed. Reda Anderson and Dr. Benaroya were with me for these interviews and also asked questions for these featured guests.

Broadcast 943 (Special Edition)

Guest: Robert Zimmerman was the guest for this program to discuss his new book about the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), "The Universe In A Mirror: The Saga of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Visionaries Who Built It." This is an excellent book, a must read for those of you who want to know more about the HST. Having read the book and after talking to Bob, it's easy to realise that there is still much to learn about HST's history, from CCD cameras to mirrors and NASA contracting. The information in the book about the mirror error and how it got so far through the system is fascinating.

Broadcast 910 (Special Edition)

Guest: Robert Zimmerman returned to The Space Show and we started our discussion mentioning what was happening with the current Shuttle Endeavor flight. This led Bob to mention that Endeavor was going to be the back-up safety shuttle for the Hubble repair mission which is planned for late August of this year.

Broadcast 859 (Special Edition)

Guest: Robert Zimmerman. Robert Zimmerman was our guest for this special Christmas Eve Space Show program. Thus, how appropriate for Bob to lead off the discussion with a look back 39 years ago to the Apollo 8 mission to the Moon and the reading from Genesis in the Old Testament by the three crewmen as they went around the Moon on that special Christmas Eve. Bob told us the story of events leading up to selecting and reading from Genesis, and provided us with information from his interviews with those involved at the time.

Broadcast 819 (Special Edition)

Robert Zimmerman returned to the program for some updates and new information regarding the space program and related issues. We started out talking about the current shuttle mission. Bob brought us up to speed on issues the shuttle mission is facing, future shuttle missions, the upcoming Hubble repair mission and the politics of space around election time. Listeners asked Bob about the Chinese space program, their ASAT efforts, and space tourism. In fact, we discussed space tourism as a driver for the industry.

Broadcast 733 (Special Edition)

Robert Zimmerman returned for this Space Show program. This time our conversation went across many subjects from NASA culture, to NASA award giving, credibility with the public, Administrator Griffin and his global warming comments, the ISS computer issues, the Shuttle, Direct 2, the Hubble, and much more. Bob went into depth about the importance of returning to the Moon, congressional funding, how the public feels about the VSE program, private sector versus public sector and taxpayer funding of space programs.