Apollo 13 more immediate and visible warnings of anomalies. Because Apollo 13 followed the free-return trajectory, its altitude over the lunar far side was approximately greater than the orbital altitude on the remaining Apollo lunar missions. The Moon was almost at apogee during the mission (as it also was during the flights of Apollo 10 and Apollo 15), which also increased the distance from the Earth. The combination of the two effects ensures that Apollo 13 holds the absolute altitude record for a manned spacecraft, reaching a distance of from Earth on 7:21 pm EST, April 14, 1970. The A7L spacesuit intended
Apollo Lunar Module and docking planned for Apollo 8 in December 1968. But again, last-minute problems delayed its flight until Apollo 9 on March 3, 1969. A second, higher Earth orbit manned practice flight had been planned to follow LM-3, but this was canceled to keep the program timeline on track. Apollo 10 launched on May 18, 1969, using LM-4 for a "dress rehearsal" for the lunar landing, practicing all phases of the mission except powered descent initiation through takeoff. The LM descended to above the lunar surface, then jettisoned the descent stage and used its ascent engine to return to the CSM.