Word: returned
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Russians do indeed plan to steal the limelight from Apollo 8, their best opportunity for launching a manned circumlunar shot will occur during a brief period beginning around the first week in December. At that time, a spacecraft could be launched in daylight, streak around the moon, and return for a landing in Russia or the Indian Ocean during daylight hours, when it is easier to locate and reach the downed craft. The mission almost certainly will follow closely the trail of Zond-5 and Zond-6, the first craft to circle the moon and return safely to earth...
...they will be able to survey a prime LM landing site at a time when illumination is ideal for observation: the sun will be 6.6° above the horizon, casting the long shadows that best bring out distinctive surface features. During lunar orbit, and on both the outgoing and return legs of the mission, the astronauts will shoot television pictures of the moon and the earth and transmit them back to ground stations as Christmastime TV spectaculars...
...support or power systems begin to fail on earth-orbital flights, astronauts are usually within half an hour to three hours of recovery on land or water; a relatively small thrust from a retrorocket can lower their orbit into the atmosphere, where friction provides the additional braking necessary to return them to earth. In the vicinity of the moon, the astronauts might be as long as a three-day journey from home. They could fall victim to minor malfunctions -like a deteriorating oxygen supply-that would not necessarily be fatal in an earth-orbital flight...
...flat stone skipping on water, it would bounce off the atmosphere and sail into a large elliptical orbit around the earth. Having shed Apollo's service module before reentry, the astronauts would have insufficient oxygen and electrical power to survive the several hours it might take to return to the atmosphere and land. In Phillips' laconic words, "It's a crew-loss kind of situation...
...then descend into a low earth orbit for several days-or it could re-enter the atmosphere after traveling as far as 69,000 miles into space. Or, just as the Russians will probably do, the spacecraft could simply make a circumlunar flight, loop around behind the moon, and return directly to earth...