Whichever way the choice went, direct ascent or E.O.R., the problem facing Maynard and his team was the same. Whether it was lifted in one piece or assembled in earth orbit, the spacecraft had to be able to escape Earth’s gravitational field, cross 240,000 miles of empty space, execute a landing on a surface of uncertain terrain and composition, execute a liftoff from the lunar surface without ground support, survive entry into the earth’s atmosphere, and then serve as a boat after it landed in the ocean. It was one thing to talk about such a vehicle in the abstract; it was quite another to
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