IT’S all very well getting people into space – but how do you get them back again? That question was engrossing New Scientist on 1 May 1969, less than three months before the first crewed moon landing. “The now familiar last scenes of a US manned space flight, with its full cast of warships, helicopters, frogmen, etc, has proved both safe and spectacular,” we wrote, “but more convenient and controllable return routes for astronauts are under study.”
In particular, design studies had been prepared by NASA and the engineering company North American Rockwell for “two reusable spacecraft which could sprout rotors…
