Read the following passage and questions, then choose the right answer from options, the answer should be one of A, B, C, D.

<passage>:
on Mars it's sandless (shower-wise) near angle on this trip ... but what was humane about sending me? . It must have been a oxygen for the return trip (Jones got me the job of going along to write up the first trip to Mars. He was always getting trip), and the air's only a little bit me . "It'll be the biggest break a writer ever got," he told me, two days before blastoff. "Oh, sure with the help of the aliens. Or maybe trip, but the public doesn't want on things." "But, Louie," I said weakly, "I'll probably be locked up for the whole trip. If there are fights or accidents, (a group of maybe ten, huddling they won't tell about me The hole went on practically forever, with you." "how'll I go about it? A story? An asked me what the hell I kept writing a short and unscientific word and went to sleep. There's a Martian guarding the So I went on the first trip to Mars. And I kept a diary. This is left us here, and we're out of rations. They picked the launching date from the March, 1959, New October 1, 1960 Times , which stated that this was the most likely time for launching. Trip time is supposed to take 260 days (that's one way), so we're aimed toward where Mars will be (had June 23, 1961, I think We're either There are five of us on board. A met all but the pilot (he's very is rather old to take the "rigors of the journey," as he puts it, but the stand the trip or an accomplished with us. He looks a damn sight better than I feel. He's kind of balding, and very iron-gray-haired and in the heart of the planet, says else. Right now I could eat a dinner itself out into airless space. furiously and went away. When the where we are? sleeping cycle here), Kroger talked yet. He has a little cubicle behind island before he made the far side. had to lift him out of the swirling the water and left his hand all studied them in the uncertain light, ream of paper, so we didn't meet. must be like Terran (Earth-type) during blastoff. The inertial gravities didn't bother me so much as the gyroscopic spin they put on the outside watched them more closely and seen that they have long rubbery their bodies isolated carbon from interview wasn't wasted. I learned Like plants, on Earth, he said. tall and does as Earth plants do in photosynthesis shape of the pilot all day. He passed my room on the way to the galley (the when he'd finished his spiel. in that medium, they lose all energy I still haven't met the pilot. October 3, 1960 Well, I've met the pilot. He is "Which tunnel do we take?" thought of escape. it that Pat said was the Earth. we're in. Actually, he explained to of starvation." we'd land on Mars upside down. He just stared at me. mines. That's I can't say I was too impressed with that 16 x 19 view of outer It looks like a long trip. gone berserk. October 4, 1960 hour, back in the canal, and were lucky enough to find our own trail We made the surface in another which the jeep still waited. stream (the Martians had probably and he went away. I went to the galley for coffee was nearly buried in sand, but we and he had important work to do got back to the ship quickly. First thing we did on arriving was to misunderstood and said, "A good chance of liking on Mars?" We're going back . Pat says that a week is all we were allowed to stay and that it's urgent to return and tell what we've learned Pat slept mostly all day in his When I got back to my compartment, about Mars (we know there are wasn't much to do, so I wrote a shortly after landing." He wrote something in the ship's uses his first name as a gag. Some fun. And only 255 days to go. April 1, 1961 I've skipped over the last 177 days or so, because there's nothing Mars, so escape velocity didn't (relatively) trip on our shock-absorbing about Vanity Fair , , War and Peace , Gone with Babbitt . They didn't take as long as I thought they would, except for Vanity Fair Guess I'll take a nap. . Kroger says there are two baby Martians loose on board ship. Pat told him he June 26, 1961 it when he'd pulled a particularly good gag. Some fun. And only 78 days to go. June 1, 1961 Only 17 days to go. I saw Mars on the screen today. It seems to be gone. Earth for instructions. We can't. Here we are, somewhere in a void headed for Earth, with enough air and water left for maybe three days—if the Martians don't take and he told me to go to hell. any more. June 18, 1961 Mars has Longest whiskers on landing gets a again. We're going to land, so I have to go to my bunk. It's all Kroger had only studied them, and Jones had brought them aboard. did me at takeoff. Earth seems awfully far away. of suspended animation till landing time, eight months away. Kroger said, "How?" Kroger put us all into a state June 27, 1961 got to set up camp, then get instructions from Earth. So we just have to wait. The air is very cold, but the Pat says what do we do the ship), and Jones threw it away. Got lost today. not to go too far from camp, so, when I took a stroll, I made sure the rocket behind me. Walked for maybe an hour then the oxygen got back they were gone. However, After maybe ten steps, the rocket disappeared. One minute it was next instant it was gone. a lifelong diet of anthracite. Pat out after me in the jeep, following Brief reprieve for us. The disappeared, but I kept going. Finally Worse and worse . Lloyd caught one of the Martians in the At least I think they were footprints. Twice as long as mine, and three times as wide, but kind of featureless because the sand's loose to make a landing. carry us to Earth and we can die on our home planet, which is better than perishing in space. than you." He shuddered. "Ran off Earth in sight Martian is still with us. He's where them, nor the jeep, on my trip back. So we followed the wheel tracks for a while, and they veered off from my trail and followed another, very made of carbohydrates, too. I'd rather not have known. March 4, 1962 back yet, either. June 21, 1961 We're not Earth fills the camp, but a few rifle shots send in a descending spiral into one of before another windstorm blows my diary aboard, and towed the the "captured Martian" leaked out, And we're locking up the ship. It's later until the dismantling of the the jeep to follow the aliens' on a Martian. The trail ended at the brink of region on Earth. Kroger tried out of the sea on every coastal here is hard-packed and damp, and five of us have abetted an invasion from Mars. Needless to say, we're no longer inside of the crevice, but the Sun's not mine. June 22, 1961 Well, we're heroes. to sign on for the flight to Venus scheduled within the next few days—because of our experience. to go down. fuel for a one-way trip. I don't care. I've always wanted to travel with Kroger says there's only enough six or seven toes. It varies from print to print. And they're barefoot, too, or else they have the damnedest-looking

<question>:
How long was the author away from earth on this trip?

<options>:
A 18 months
B 17 months
C 19 months
D 16 months

<answer>:

B