APOLLO STARTS LONG JOURNEY BACK TO EARTH

HOUSTON (Texas), May 24 (Reuter, AP).—Lunar Astronauts Thomas Stafford, Eugene Cernan and John Young sped towards earth today to the strains of the Western song “We are going back to Houston.” The crew of America’s Apollo-10 spacecraft played a brief recording of eh song after a perfect firing of their main rocket engine ripped them out of lunar orbit. The critical firing occurred behind the moon’s backside out of radio contact. Mission control Centre in Houston waited for a suspenseful nine minutes before Apollo-10 rounded the edge and flashed down reassuring radio signals. “We are returning to earth” were the first words from an obviously happy Stafford. “Glad to have you on the way back,” ground controllers replied. “The burn was absolutely beautiful and we have got a fantastic view of the moon now,” Stafford called out.