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travel to the synodic month is no easy effort . Our born planet orbit Earth atan median distance of 238,855 mile ( 384,400 kilometers ) . So how long does it take to reach our closest neighbor from the second a spaceship lifts off ?
base on lunar missionary post from the past few decennary , the answer range from about eight hour to 4.5 months . The fastest human - made craftiness to whiz by the moon — meaning it did n’t stop there — was the New Horizon probe launched byNASAin 2006 to hit the books Pluto ; this spacecraft return by the moon8 hours and 35 minutesafter launching .
What are the longest and shortest trips to the moon, so far?
But for missions whose destination is the moon , the journey take a bit longer . In 1959 , in human race ’s first evermoonmission , the Soviet Union ’s Luna 1 took34 hoursto reach the moon . This uncrewed mission was intended to impact the moon ’s control surface , but the spacecraft blend off form , passing 3,725 miles ( 5,995 kilometers ) away from the Sun Myung Moon . It finally halt transport when its batteries give out , and it ’s still float through space to this sidereal day .
In 1969 , when astronauts in reality landed on the moon , it took the Apollo 11 crew109 hours and 42 minutesfrom liftoff to Neil Armstrong ’s first step on the moonlight .
The reason for these variable locomotion times to the moon depend on many factors , but one of the most of import reasons is the amount of fuel used . engineer have found that using less fuel in a lunar mission can take longer , but it still gets the caper done . This can be pulled off by using the natural gravitative forces of celestial bodies , such as Earth and the moon , to help guide the spacecraft along a longer route .
What are the longest and shortest trips to the moon, so far?
For example , in 2019 , Israel sent an uncrewed ballistic capsule call Beresheet to land on the moon . After liftoff , Beresheet looped around Earth forabout six weeksin ever - widening orbitsbefore hit enough momentum to zip off toward the moonshine . It got there , but not the way the Israeli formation SpaceIL wanted : The team lost physical contact and Beresheet crashed into the lunar open 48 day after launching , spillingthousands of microscopic tardigradesonto the synodic month in the cognitive operation .
relate : Could a starship vaporize through a gas heavyweight like Jupiter ?
The spacecraft that hold the record for longest journeying to the synodic month is NASA ’s CAPSTONE probe , a 55 - pound ( 25 kg ) cubesat that took4.5 monthsto leave Earth , circle it several times , and finally enter the Sun Myung Moon ’s orbit in 2022 . CAPSTONE ( Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment ) was transport to the moon totest out an orbitthat NASA plans to habituate for its plannedGateway space outstation .
NASA astronautBuzz Aldrinstands on the moon in July 1969.
No matter which route a spacecraft takes , every lunar mission drop dead through several essential stair . Between 60 % and 90 % of the launch exercising weight of any quad mission is the fuel that enables it to escape Earth ’s gravity and move into blank . Once the space vehicle arrives in eye socket , it needs to use as short fuel as potential to attain the optimum trajectory to its target , as including more fuel cause the spacecraft heavier and more expensive .
eventually , the guile call for to perform a further fuel burn to get away Earth ’s orbit and be on its way . The velocity of spacecraft in passage tend to be similar , but where Luna 1 had a verbatim trajectory , Apollo 11 needed a more precise lunar domain trajectory , which describe for the longsighted travel sentence . That meant direct the craftiness not at the moon but just beside it so it get in electron orbit , and at a speed safe enough to set up a lander and receive it again .
Apollo 11 took around 4.5 solar day to reach the moon for other reasons , too . For model , it needed to nail abattery of maneuvers and checksto the guidance and navigation system of rules before it left Earth ’s graveness .
" Once outdoors of the main Earth somberness influence , only minor orbit correction are need , so less fuel is required,“Gretchen Benedix , a establish member and professor at the Space Science and Technology Centre at Curtin University in Australia , told Live Science . " Gravitydoes all the work — the lunar month ’s gravitation will pull on whatever hatful was launch . "
But the travel time also reckon on other factor . One of the biggest , accord to Mark Blanton , who leads NASA ’s Moon to Mars delegacy analysis and integrated assessment , is the purpose of the deputation .
— Why ca n’t we see the far side of the moon ?
— Will Earth ever lose its lunation ?
— Why can we sometimes see the moon in the daylight ?
" missionary work or agencies will evaluate the type of rockets available and their capabilities to carry spacecraft , " he told Live Science . " The rocket capableness and foreign mission objectives will set the sizing of the ballistic capsule — for instance , if it ’s a skill instrument versus a crewed foreign mission .
" When you put all those constraint together , it will allow you design an optimum trajectory , and that will inform on the number of Earth orbits to fix up a finicky geometry or trajectory , " Blanton say .
That means that , like with everything link to spacecraft and spaceflight , precise calculations about trade sizing , gang sizing , fuel allocation and every other potential detail can have an shock on full change of location metre to the moon .
