They needed to change their flight path to take them around the moon and back toward Earth.
VOA: special.2009.07.22
They were more than two-thirds of the way to the moon on a flight path that would take them to a moon landing.
VOA: special.2009.07.22
Just as with Apollo, any modern venture would need some kind of CSM element for the astronauts, together with a departure stage - a propulsion unit that could accelerate the astronauts' vehicle out of low-Earth orbit, putting it on a path to the Moon.
Mihael Kovacevic failed to deal with a Jody Morris cross, allowing Moon headed the ball into MacDonald's path and he rifled a volley past Dusan Pernis.
Standing beside scale models of research stations on Mars and the moon, Miller said the project will encourage commercial ventures to follow the path NASA blazes into space.