... With enough velocity, a spacecraft can break loose from the Earth's gravity and enter an orbit around the Sun, like that of a planet. If it then orbits the Sun with the same period as the Earth--one year--it may keep a fixed position relative to Earth. ... If the distance is just right--about 4 times the distance to the Moon or 1/100 the distance to the Sun--the spacecraft, too, will need just one year to go around the Sun, and will keep its position between the Sun and the Earth. ...

... Spacecraft . ... To space by cannon? Finally, the deep space explorers --spacecraft which break away from the Earth's gravity . ... The "Luna" series of the USSR conducted 7 soft landing of unmanned probes, two of them with wheeled robotic "Lunokhods," and two of those missions returned samples to Earth. Others spacecraft have visited the major planets of the Solar system. ... The Mariner series have explored Venus and Mars--and Mariner 10 even reached Mercury, for three separate encounters! ...

... Launch Date: 1968-09-14 . ... Zond 5 was launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik in Earth parking orbit to make scientific probes during a lunar flyby and to return to Earth. ... The closest distance was 1,950 kilometers (1,212 miles). High-quality photographs of the Earth were taken at a distance of 90,000 kilometers (56,000 miles). ... On September 21, 1968, the re-entry capsule entered the Earth's atmosphere, braked aerodynamically, and deployed parachutes at 7 kilometers (4.35 miles) . ...