Word: sunlite
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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After a 117-day journey across 180 million miles of space, the spherical Venera 8, emblazoned with a hammer and sickle and a portrait of Lenin, plummeted toward the thin, sunlit crescent of Venus that is now visible from earth. Under its heat-resistant parachute, the 2,600-lb. spacecraft floated down through the thick, hot Venusian atmosphere. After it landed, it continued sending signals for about 50 minutes before it burned out on the scalding Venusian surface...
Loss is what the novel is about. The author conveys the most private sense of it, with refreshing reticence about body logistics and bedroom scenery. By not telling all, Stegner illuminates experience and provides insights that are "like dark water under sunlit...