In article ,
says...
On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 14:29:42 -0400, Chris Jones wrote:

snip

So a 95 statute mile circular orbit may last a few hours? At 80-90
miles would you be able to make one orbit? (Assume average
atmospheric conditions and a Mercury or Gemini spacecraft.)

Yes, a 95 statute mile orbit would last a few hours. The J mission
Apollo spacecraft entered circular parking orbits that were about 95
miles high and stayed there for one and a half orbits prior to TLI.
These missions launched into parking orbits about 10 miles lower than the
earlier missions to accomodate the greater weight of the spacecraft --
they spent a little less energy getting to the parking orbit to leave
enough for a TLI maneuver to get the whole package out to the Moon.

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