Apollo astronauts had to perform some return maneuvers while their spacecraft was behind the moon and outside communications range with Earth.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by multiple independent NASA historical archives (Apollo 8, 10, 11, 12 flight journals) and corroborated by NBC News reporting. Well-documented standard feature of lunar mission trajectory mechanics. [tier=silver indep_score=1.0 clusters=2 claim_tier=notable]
Sources
- Inside Apollo mission control, from the eyes of the first woman on the job (seed:science_and_space)
- https://www.nasa.gov/history/apollo-11-mission-overview/ (corroboration)
- https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap12fj/17day7_rev44_tei.html (corroboration)
- https://www.nasa.gov/history/apollo-10-clears-the-way-for-the-first-moon-landing/ (corroboration)
- https://www.nasa.gov/history/afj/ap08fj/22b-day4_tei.html (corroboration)
- https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/six-minutes-suspense-how-apollo-11-made-it-around-moon-n160001 (corroboration)