How long is the flight to the Moon?

Flying to the Moon is not an easy task. This natural satellite orbits Earth at an average distance of 384,400 km. Based on lunar missions over the past few decades, travel times range from 8 hours to 4.5 months. The fastest man-made craft ever to fly by the Moon was the New Horizon probe launched by NASA in 2006 to study Pluto. The New Horizon spacecraft flew past the Moon about 8 hours and 35 minutes after launch, according to Live Science.

But for missions with a destination of the Moon, the journey is a bit longer. In 1959, during humanity’s first lunar mission, the Soviet Union’s Luna 1 took 34 hours to reach its destination. This unmanned mission was intended to collide with the lunar surface, but the spacecraft was deflected, flying 5,995 km away from the Moon. Eventually, the spacecraft stopped transmitting when its battery ran out and it is still floating in space to this day. In 1969, when astronauts landed on the Moon, the Apollo 11 crew took 109 hours and 42 minutes from takeoff to when Neil Armstrong took his first step on the celestial surface.

Travel time to the Moon varies significantly depending on many factors, one of the most important reasons is the amount of fuel used. Engineers found that using less fuel on a flight to the Moon could result in a longer flight time, but could still complete the mission by taking advantage of the natural gravity of celestial bodies like Earth, helps guide the spacecraft along a longer route.

For example, in 2019, Israel sent an unmanned spacecraft named Beresheet to land on the Moon. After takeoff, Beresheet flew around the Earth for about 6 weeks in a gradually widening orbit before accumulating enough momentum to soar to the Moon. The ship reached its destination despite not following the predictions of the Israeli space agency. The team in charge lost contact and the Beresheet crashed onto the lunar surface 48 days after launch, spilling thousands of tardigrades in the process.

The spacecraft that holds the record for the longest flight to the Moon is NASA’s CAPSTONE probe. This 25 kg cubesat satellite took 4.5 months to leave Earth, circling the planet several times before entering lunar orbit in 2022. CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) was launched. to the Moon to test the orbit that NASA plans to use for the Gateway space station.

Regardless of the route a spacecraft takes, each mission to the Moon goes through several steps. Accounting for 60 – 90% of the launch weight of any space mission is the fuel that allows it to escape Earth’s gravity and enter space. Once the spacecraft reaches orbit, it needs to use as little fuel as possible to achieve the optimal flight path to its destination because the more fuel it carries, the heavier and more expensive it becomes. Finally, the ship needs to burn fuel to escape Earth orbit.

The flight time to the Moon also depends on many other factors. According to Mark Blanton, who directs analysis and integrated assessment of NASA’s Moon to Mars mission, one of the biggest reasons is the mission’s purpose. “The space agency will evaluate the type of rockets available and their ability to propel the spacecraft. The capabilities of the rocket and the goals of the mission will determine the size of the craft. After determining all requirements, Experts will design the optimal route.

Everything about the spacecraft and flight, the precise calculation of spacecraft size, crew size, fuel allocation and every other detail can impact the total flight time to the Moon.