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How Long Does It Take to Get to the Moon?

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Boldly glowing in the night sky, the moon has long been an object of fascination. It's not just a pretty face in our solar system; it's a natural satellite that affects the tides , animal sleep cycles (including humans !) and hormones .

But how long does it take to get to the moon ? Humans have long been inspired to look up and reach beyond the atmosphere of our own planet — that's part of why President John F. Kennedy set his sights on NASA's mission objective to travel to the moon in the 1960s — so it's only natural to wonder how long the journey takes.

So far, American astronauts have made nine journeys to the moon — six of which landed on the lunar surface. NASA, other governments, and other private companies are now planning crewed missions back to the moon, which will give us even more data about how long it takes to make the trip.

The Moon's Distance: Not Just a Straight Line

Travel time to the moon, a flashback to apollo 11, what lies ahead: new missions and new hopes.

The moon doesn't just lazily hover around Earth in a perfectly circular path. The moon's orbit is, in fact, elliptical .

This causes the moon to be sometimes closer to Earth (a point known as perigee) and sometimes further (known as apogee). This is why you might have heard the term " supermoon " thrown around.

Taking advantage of lunar orbit mechanics, astrophysicists can plan lunar missions to coincide with those times when the moon's elliptical orbit is at its closest point to Earth.

Based on past missions, we know that it usually takes about three days for a manned spacecraft to reach the moon when the average distance from Earth to the moon is 240,000 miles (386,243 kilometers) . This translates to a spacecraft's speed of about 3,333 mph (5,364 kph).

Yet, the duration isn't always set in stone. Some uncrewed missions, in a bid to be more fuel efficient, might move a lot slower. For instance, China's Chang'e missions took around four to five days .

But, want to hear something astonishing? The 1959 Luna 1, launched by a powerful rocket, made its journey to the moon in just 36 hours , traveling at a speed of about 6,500 mph (10,500 kph). However, it failed to land on the moon's surface.

The Luna 2, which launched only a few months later, not only succeeded in becoming the first spacecraft to land on the moon, but it also made the trip in 34 hours. And let's not forget the 2006 New Horizons, which breezed past the moon in a mere eight and a half hours en route to Pluto, reaching speeds of up to 36,373 mph (58,536 kph).

The Apollo missions, headed by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center, were monumental in unraveling the mysteries of our lunar neighbor. The Apollo 11 mission showcases the wonders of orbital mechanics.

While it took Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and their team three days, three hours and 49 minutes to reach the moon and set foot on its surface, they returned to Earth in just two days, 22 hours and 56 minutes .

Why the time difference? As Armstrong and Aldrin were hopping around on the lunar surface, Earth and the moon grew slightly closer — an effect of that elliptical orbit we mentioned earlier. moon

With advancements in propulsion system and launch vehicle technologies, both governmental bodies and private enterprises are gearing up for future crewed missions to the moon. The European Space Agency, in collaboration with NASA's Orion spacecraft, aims to achieve newer milestones.

So, the next time you look up and see that silvery orb in the sky, just remember: A new chapter in our relationship with the moon is about to unfold with another crewed mission to its surface likely on the way.

This article was updated in conjunction with AI technology, then fact-checked and edited by a HowStuffWorks editor.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Intuitive Machines Updates IM-1 Landing Time, Carrying NASA Science

Carrying NASA science instruments to the Moon, Intuitive Machines’ flight controllers conducted a lunar correction maneuver to raise the orbit for Odysseus overnight. As a result, the anticipated landing time is now 4:24 p.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 22.

NASA coverage of the mission will begin at 3 p.m. on NASA+ , NASA TV, and the agency’s  website .

Artemis 1 timeline: What to expect from NASA's epic moon mission

Here's a brief rundown of the major Artemis 1 milestones, both before and after its Aug. 29 liftoff.

huge artemis 1 rocket on the launch pad at night

NASA's next moonshot is finally upon us.

The agency plans to launch its Artemis 1 mission at 8:33 a.m. EDT (1233 GMT) on Monday (Aug. 29) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, using a Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket to send an uncrewed Orion capsule on a 42-day journey to lunar orbit and back.

NASA has been preparing for Artemis 1 — the first flight for SLS and the Artemis program of moon exploration — for years and is now in the home stretch. Here's a brief rundown of the major mission milestones to watch for, both before and after launch. (You can learn about the milestones in much greater detail in NASA's Artemis 1 press kit .)

Related: NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission: Live updates More: NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission explained in photos

Saturday (Aug. 27)

The Artemis 1 countdown will officially begin at 10:23 a.m. EDT (1423 GMT) on Saturday, when the launch team members arrive at their stations. 

These folks will check off a number of milestones over the next 14 hours or so. For example, the team will fill the water tanks for the sound-suppression system at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39B, which will host the Artemis 1 liftoff. They'll also power up the SLS upper stage and core stage and begin getting the core's four RS-25 engines ready to go.

Sunday, Aug. 28

Early Sunday morning, the Artemis 1 team will charge the flight batteries on Orion and the SLS core stage, among other tasks. That evening, about 12 hours before liftoff, all non-essential personnel will leave Pad 39B. Around that same time, the team will activate the mission's ground launch sequencer (GLS), a software program that automatically manages the final portion of a countdown.

Late Sunday night, nine hours and 40 minutes before launch, a built-in countdown hold will begin, and the Artemis 1 team will conduct a weather and fueling briefing. Just before midnight, the team will decide whether to start fueling up the SLS or postpone to another launch date.

Monday, Aug. 29

If all goes according to plan, loading of the SLS propellants — liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen — will begin early Monday morning, about eight hours before liftoff. This is a lengthy process with many steps, including "replenish" operations that keep topping off the rocket's fuel, which will continue almost until T-0.

Another built-in countdown hold will begin at 7:53 a.m. EDT (1153 GMT), 40 minutes before liftoff. Then, at T-15 minutes, the launch director will poll the Artemis 1 team, asking everyone if the mission is "go" for launch. If it is, the GLS will start the terminal count at T-10 minutes.

Those final 10 minutes will be jam-packed with milestones, including the switching of Orion and both SLS stages to internal power and the termination of propellant replenish activities. Finally, at T-10 seconds, the GLS will send the command for the SLS core's four RS-25 engines to start up. That will happen at T-6.4 seconds, and the Artemis 1 stack will rise off Pad 39B when the countdown clock strikes zero.

After liftoff

Two minutes and 12 seconds after launch, Artemis 1's two strap-on solid rocket boosters will separate and fall toward the Atlantic Ocean. About a minute later, Orion will jettison its emergency launch-abort system and the protective fairing that covers its European-built service module.

The SLS core engines will shut down eight minutes and four seconds after liftoff, and the huge rocket's two stages will separate 12 seconds later. Another 10 minutes after that, Orion will start deploying its solar arrays, a process that will take about 12 minutes.

Orion and the SLS upper stage will be orbiting Earth at this point. Fifty-one minutes after liftoff, the upper stage will conduct a 22-second engine burn to get itself and Orion a bit farther from our planet. Then, at 10:11 a.m. EDT (1411 GMT), the upper stage will perform a crucial, 18-minute burn to send Orion on its way toward the moon .

Orion will separate from the SLS upper stage at 11:39 a.m. EDT (1539 GMT), two hours and six minutes after liftoff, embarking on its solo journey to the moon.

The discarded upper stage's work isn't done, however: It's carrying, in a special adapter, 10 tiny cubesats that it must deploy. Those cubesats will perform a variety of work in deep space, from studying how radiation affects yeast DNA to hunting for water ice on the moon. According to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, those cubesats will start deploying from the adapter three hours and 40 minutes after launch, and the last of them will be flying freely by about T+8 hours.

The Orion capsule and the service module that drives it, of course, will keep cruising toward the moon. This journey will take a while; according to the Artemis 1 press kit, flight days two through five will be devoted to "outbound transit." On flight day six — Sept. 3 — Orion will begin a new phase, making its way toward a distant retrograde orbit (DRO) around the moon. 

On Sept. 3, the capsule will perform an "outward powered flyby burn" and achieve its closest approach to the moon, skimming just 60 miles or so (100 kilometers) above the lunar surface. On Sept. 7 (flight day 10), Orion will fire up its engines again and slide into its designated DRO.

A day later, the capsule will get farther from Earth than any human-rated spacecraft ever has. The current record is held by NASA's troubled Apollo 13 mission, which got 248,654 miles (400,170 km) from home in April 1970.

Related: The Apollo program: How NASA sent astronauts to the moon

— NASA's Artemis program of lunar exploration  

— Artemis 1: Going back to the moon  

— For Artemis moon missions, science will reign supreme

Orion will stay in its lunar DRO for about two weeks. Then, on Sept. 21, the capsule will begin gearing up for the long journey back to Earth with a departure burn. Two days later, it will reach the mission's maximum distance from Earth — about 280,000 miles (450,600 km).

Leaving the moon will be a roughly 10-day process. On flight day 35 — Oct. 3 — Orion will perform a "return flyby" engine burn, which will take the capsule within 500 miles (800 km) of the lunar surface. Orion will get a slingshot-like gravity assist from the moon to leave the lunar neighborhood and head back toward Earth.

The return journey will take a week. Finally, on Oct. 10, Orion will reunite with its home planet, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. 

There's a lot to look forward to, as you can see. Keep in mind, however, that these are target dates and times; the actual timing may differ depending on how the mission proceeds. And everything will change if Artemis 1 doesn't get off the ground on Aug. 29; orbital dynamics dictates different mission lengths on other launch dates. (NASA is currently eyeing backup dates of Sept. 2 and Sept. 5.)

Mike Wall is the author of " Out There " (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall . Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or on Facebook .  

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

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Mike Wall

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with  Space.com  and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

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Odysseus becomes first US spacecraft to land on moon in over 50 years

By Elise Hammond and Jackie Wattles , CNN

What we know about the Odysseus lunar lander's journey to the moon

From CNN's Jackie Wattles

Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lunar lander lifts off to space in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on February 15.

The Odysseus lunar lander, nicknamed “Odie” or IM-1, is aiming to make the first touchdown of a US-made spacecraft on the moon in five decades on Thursday.

Its launch followed closely on the heels of a separate  US lunar landing mission  that failed in January. NASA has ramped up the development of robotic spacecraft via private partners to evaluate the lunar environment and identify key resources before it  attempts to return astronauts  to the moon later this decade.

Odie's journey to the moon: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fired Odie into Earth’s orbit last week, blazing to speeds topping 24,600 miles per hour (about 40,000 kilometers per hour), according to Intuitive Machines, the Houston-based company that developed the spacecraft under contract with NASA through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

After burning through its fuel, the rocket detached from Odie, leaving the lunar lander to fly solo through space. The robotic explorer then consulted an onboard map of the stars so it could orient itself in space, pointing its solar panels toward the sun’s rays to charge its batteries.

The spacecraft entered orbit around the moon, which is roughly 250,000 miles (about 400,000 kilometers) away from Earth, on Wednesday morning, according to the company .

See some of the first images from "Odie" on its way to the moon

The first images from the Odysseus lunar lander provided a view of Earth from space as the craft made its way to the moon. After being launched last week, the lander is aiming to land on the moon's surface on Thursday.

Intuitive Machines successfully transmitted its first IM-1 mission images to Earth on February 16, 2024. The images were captured shortly after separation from SpaceX's second stage on Intuitive Machines’ first journey to the moon under NASA's CLPS initiative.

More images to come: The spacecraft, nicknamed “Odie” or IM-1 , also houses a camera system called EagleCam that was developed by students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. The device is set to pop off of the lunar lander as it approaches the surface and capture images of the vehicle’s descent.

“Hopefully, we’ll get a bird’s-eye view of that landing to share with the public,” Intuitive Machines CEO Stephen Altemus said.

What the "Odie" lunar lander will do on the moon

This screengrab shows Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lunar lander separates from the rocket's upper stage and heads toward the moon.

The Odysseus lunar lander, nicknamed “Odie," is on a scouting mission of sorts to the moon. The spacecraft is designed to assess the lunar environment ahead of NASA’s current plan to return a crewed mission to the moon through the Artemis program in late 2026 .

If the landing is successful on Thursday, Odie is expected to operate for seven days on the lunar surface before darkness falls on the landing site at the moon's south pole, plunging it into freezing temperatures.

Packed on board the lunar lander are six NASA science and technology payloads. They include a radio receiver system that will study lunar plasma, which is created by solar winds and other charged particles raining down on the moon’s surface.

Other payloads will test technology that could be used on future lunar landing missions, such as a new sensor that could potentially help guide precision landings.

Odysseus' landing attempt comes after a failed US mission last month

Astrobotic Technology shared this January 18 image of the Peregrine lunar lander in space. The Earth is visible (background), appearing as a crescent lit by the sun. 

The Odysseus lunar lander is aiming to make history on Thursday — but landing on the moon will be a dangerous feat.

If the landing fails, it will join a growing list of missions that have unsuccessfully sought a lunar touchdown. Last month, the first US-built lunar lander to launch in five decades, Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine, was hampered by a critical fuel leak. That came after two failed missions from other countries in 2023: one from  Russia  and another from a  company  based in Japan.

China ,  India  and  Japan  are so far the only nations to have soft-landed vehicles on the moon in the 21st century.

US is attempting to land on the moon for the first time in more than 50 years — for a fraction of the price

From CNN's Kristin Fisher and Jackie Wattles

A rendering shows Intuitive Machines IM-1 Nova-C lander on the moon.

A phone booth-size spacecraft called Odysseus , or IM-1, is set to take on a challenge no vehicle launched from the United States has attempted in more than 50 years: landing on the moon. The last time the US landed a spacecraft on the moon's surface was its robotic  Surveyor 1  in 1966.

But the lunar landers of the 21st century, like Odysseus, are attempting to accomplish many of the same goals the US had during the space race at a small fraction of the price.

At the peak of the Apollo program, NASA’s budget comprised over 4% of all government spending. Today, the space agency’s budget is one-tenth the size, accounting for only 0.4% of all federal spending, even as it seeks to return American astronauts to the moon under the  Artemis program .

NASA is attempting to drastically reduce prices by outsourcing the design of small, robotic spacecraft to the private sector through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, or CLPS. If the landing is successful, Odysseus will be the first commercial spacecraft ever to soft-land on the moon.

“We’re going a thousand times further than the International Space Station,” Intuitive Machines President and CEO Steve Altemus told CNN. “And then, on top of that, you set the target: Do it for $100 million when in the past it’s been done for billions of dollars.”

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Highlights From the Successful Lunar Landing of the Spacecraft Odysseus

A mission from Intuitive Machines of Houston overcame last-minute difficulties that engineers had to work around. The company said the first privately built vehicle to make it to the moon “is upright and starting to send data” back to Earth.

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Kenneth Chang

Kenneth Chang

For the first time since 1972, an American-built spacecraft is on the moon’s surface.

For the first time in a half-century, an American-built spacecraft has landed on the moon.

The robotic lander was the first U.S. vehicle on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972, the closing chapter in humanity’s astonishing achievement of sending people to the moon and bringing them all back alive. That is a feat that has not been repeated or even tried since.

The lander, named Odysseus and a bit bigger than a telephone booth, arrived in the south polar region of the moon at 6:23 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday.

The landing time came and went in silence as flight controllers waited to hear confirmation of success. A brief communication pause was expected, but minutes passed.

Then Tim Crain, the chief technology officer of Intuitive Machines, the Houston-based company that built Odysseus, reported that a faint signal from the spacecraft had been detected.

“It’s faint, but it’s there,” he said. “So stand by, folks. We’ll see what’s happening here.”

A short while later, he announced, “What we can confirm, without a doubt, is our equipment is on the surface of the moon and we are transmitting. So congratulations.”

Later, he added, “Houston, Odysseus has found its new home.”

But with the spacecraft’s ability to properly communicate still unclear, the celebration of clapping and high-fives in the mission control center was muted.

Later in the evening, the company reported more promising news.

“After troubleshooting communications, flight controllers have confirmed Odysseus is upright and starting to send data,” Intuitive Machines said in a statement. “Right now, we are working to downlink the first images from the lunar surface.”

While this venture was much more modest than the Apollo missions that led to astronauts walking on the moon, the hope at NASA was that it could help inaugurate a more revolutionary era: transportation around the solar system that is economical as far as spaceflight is concerned.

“I think it is a smart thing that NASA is trying to do,” said Carissa Christensen, chief executive of BryceTech, a space consulting firm, “which is to essentially create a competitive ecosystem of providers to meet its needs.”

Intuitive Machines is one of several small companies that NASA has hired to transport instruments that will perform reconnaissance on the moon’s surface ahead of the return of NASA astronauts there, planned for later this decade .

For this mission, NASA paid Intuitive Machines $118 million under a program known as Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, to deliver six instruments to the moon, including a stereo camera that aimed to capture the billowing of dust kicked up by Odysseus as it approached the surface and a radio receiver to measure the effects of charged particles on radio signals.

There was also cargo from other customers, like a camera built by students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., and an art project by Jeff Koons. Parts of the spacecraft were wrapped in reflective material made by Columbia Sportswear.

Odysseus left Earth early on Feb. 15 aboard a SpaceX rocket. It pulled into lunar orbit on Wednesday.

The lead-up to the landing included last-minute shuffling.

After the spacecraft entered lunar orbit, Intuitive Machines said it would land on the moon at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. On Thursday morning, the company said the spacecraft had moved to a higher altitude and would land at 4:24 p.m.

Then on Thursday afternoon, the landing time changed again, with the company saying that an extra lap around the moon would be needed before the 6:24 p.m. landing attempt. A company spokesman said a laser instrument on the spacecraft that was to provide data on its altitude and velocity was not working.

The extra orbit provided two hours for changes in the spacecraft’s software to substitute a different, experimental laser instrument, which had been provided by NASA.

At 6:11 p.m., Odysseus fired its engine to begin its powered descent to the surface. The laser instrument appeared to serve as a suitable fill-in, and everything appeared to be working until the spacecraft went silent for several minutes.

The landing site for Odysseus was a flat area near the Malapert A crater, about 185 miles north of the moon’s south pole. The moon’s polar regions have attracted much interest in recent years because of frozen water hidden in the shadows of craters there.

Getting to the moon has proved to be a tricky feat to pull off. Other than the United States, only the government space programs of the Soviet Union, China, India and Japan have successfully put robotic landers on the moon’s surface. Two companies — Ispace of Japan and Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh — had previously tried and failed, as has an Israeli nonprofit, SpaceIL.

In an interview before launch, Steve Altemus, the chief executive of Intuitive Machines, said he hoped NASA would persevere with the moon-on-a-budget mindset even if Odysseus crashed.

“It’s the only way to really go forward,” he said. “That’s what this experiment is supposed to do.”

In the past, NASA would have built its own spacecraft.

Before Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the moon, NASA sent a series of robotic spacecraft, Surveyor 1 through Surveyor 7, to validate landing techniques and examine the properties of the lunar soil. Those robotic landings allayed concerns that astronauts and spacecraft would sink into a thick layer of fine dust on the moon’s surface.

But when NASA designs and operates spacecraft itself, it generally seeks to maximize the odds of success, and its designs tend to be expensive.

The Apollo moon landings from 1969 to 1972 became a paradigm for a colossal program that tackled a problem nearly impossible to solve with a near-limitless budget — the proverbial moonshot — while CLPS seeks to harness the enthusiasm and ingenuity of start-up entrepreneurs.

Thomas Zurbuchen , a former top NASA science official who started the CLPS program in 2018 , estimated that a robotic lunar lander designed, built and operated in the traditional NASA manner would cost $500 million to $1 billion, or at least five times as much the space agency paid Intuitive Machines.

NASA hopes that capitalism and competition — with companies proposing different approaches — will spur innovation and lead to new capabilities at lower costs.

But even if they succeed, these companies face uncertain business prospects attracting many customers beyond NASA and other space agencies.

“It’s not obvious who those other customers might be,” Ms. Christensen said.

Intuitive Machines has contracts for two more CLPS missions, and other companies are expected to take their shots at the moon, too. Astrobotic Technology, the Pittsburgh-based company, has a second mission in preparation to take a robotic NASA rover to one of the shadowed regions where there might be ice. Firefly Aerospace, near Austin, Texas, has its Blue Ghost lander mostly ready but has not yet announced a launch date.

Why did the bill to NASA grow by tens of millions of dollars?

In May 2019, NASA announced that it would pay Intuitive Machines $77 million to send five payloads to the moon.

Intuitive Machines and other companies in its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, or CLPS, have signed fixed-price contracts to deliver NASA payloads to the moon. Such contracts mean that if something goes wrong and costs increase, generally it is the companies, and not NASA, that would cover the difference.

But by the time Intuitive Machines made it to the moon on Thursday, NASA said it was paying the company nearly $118 million, an increase of close to 50 percent. What happened?

The main reason is that NASA changed its mind about where it wanted to go and how much it wanted to send. That is like remodeling your home and then deciding midway through the project that you want a fancier bathroom. The contractor is going to charge you for that.

NASA originally wanted Intuitive Machines send its Odysseus mission land in an easier-to-reach spot in the equatorial region of the moon called Oceanus Procellarum. It is a huge, scientifically intriguing dark spot on the near side of the moon.

However, with future missions that will take astronauts toward the moon’s south pole region, NASA wanted the Intuitive Machines lander to take an early look. Thus, NASA asked Intuitive Machines to change the landing site for Odysseus to a location near a crater named Malapert A, the farthest south that any lunar lander had targeted. That change cost an extra $28.4 million.

NASA also added almost $12 million to compensate for disruptions that companies experienced during the coronavirus pandemic and for changes in what it was sending on the mission.

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Michael Roston

Michael Roston

In a post on the social media site X, Intuitive Machines just announced that “Odysseus is upright and starting to send data.” The company said it is working on bringing the spacecraft’s first images from the moon’s surface to Earth.

Tim Fernholz

Tim Fernholz

The entrepreneur who helped start Intuitive Machines has more plans for private space exploration.

Much of the American space program is run out of nondescript offices in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. That’s where Kam Ghaffarian, the billionaire space entrepreneur, could be found recently on an auspicious day. Exactly 47 years before, he had immigrated to the United States from Iran. Mr. Ghaffarian, 66, sat at a table made of gently glowing white onyx, also from Iran.

Just a few weeks later, Mr. Ghaffarian’s company, Intuitive Machines, did something no private organization has ever done: Touched down softly on the surface of the moon .

Mr. Ghaffarian specializes in moonshots. His array of companies includes not just the one that sent a lander to the moon on Thursday, but also one building a space station to put in orbit around the Earth, another designing advanced nuclear reactors, a venture fund and a nonprofit studying faster-than-light travel technology. His projects are the kind that Silicon Valley frets about having given up on. They are bets on tangible technology, not software, where metrics like hits and clicks are replaced with the hard questions of physics.

And while bombastic billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have captured attention for their efforts to launch futuristic reusable rockets, the lower-profile Mr. Ghaffarian’s companies have helped answer the question of what to do with them, becoming crucial in the increasingly close partnership between NASA and private industry. SpaceX’s key innovation has been building rockets that have brought down the cost of going to space. Mr. Ghaffarian’s firms are using those cheap rockets to commercialize space activity in ways that Mr. Musk’s SpaceX hasn’t pursued, while Mr. Bezos’ Blue Origin has yet to reach orbit.

Mr. Ghaffarian is a believer in that public-private model. “If you look at cars or planes and all of that, there were entrepreneurs who created that and changed the game, right?” he said. “What comes to mind is Henry Ford or Howard Hughes.”

In a post on the social network X, Thomas Zurbuchen, the former NASA official who helped start the program that paid for the scientific devices aboard Odysseus, called the mission “a huge initial success for the landing, a true space and commercial milestone.” He wished Intuitive Machines and NASA officials luck as they sought scientific results and data from the mission.

The next spacecraft heading to the moon could be from China.

After Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander, the next spacecraft to head to the moon may be Chang’e-6 from China, which will try to add to the country’s cache of lunar rocks and soil.

The China National Space Administration has announced that the launch is scheduled for sometime during the first half of this year. Chang’e-6 is essentially a repeat of Chang’e-5 , which in 2020 returned the first set of moon samples to Earth since the 1970s, though they were from a different part of the moon.

Chang’e-5 landed at Mons Rümker, a volcanic plain on the near side of the moon. Mons Rümker is much younger than the sites investigated by NASA’s Apollo astronauts and the Soviet Union’s Luna robotic landers, which also returned rock samples to Earth. Planetary samples were keen to perform precise dating based on radioactive elements in the rocks. Using that data helps calibrate techniques for estimating the ages of geological surfaces on planets, moons and asteroids throughout the solar system.

The destination for Chang’e-6 is a spot on the far side of the moon within the 1,500-mile-wide South Pole-Aitken basin, the scar of an immense impact more than 4 billion years ago. Planetary scientists speculate that the impact might have been so violent that some of the moon’s mantle, usually located miles under the crust, could have been ejected onto the surface.

Chinese scientists expect to find rocks of a wide range of ages at the landing site.

China has more ambitious moon plans. It has announced that it is aiming to land its astronauts on the moon by 2030 and that it wants to build a lunar base near the south pole. So far, all of the Chinese lunar missions have succeeded — a stark contrast to the struggles of others aiming to land on the moon.

There are more private landers headed to the moon.

Whatever the state of Intuitive Machines’ spacecraft on the surface of the moon, it certainly will not be the last private company to try to get there. In fact, following this mission, it may even be the next company to try again.

A second Intuitive Machines mission aims to send a lander of the same design as Odysseus to another site near the south pole, not far from the 13-mile-wide Shackleton Crater, where water ice may be found below the surface. This lander, which is also part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, will carry three technology demonstrations for NASA, including a drill that will attempt to bore three feet into the ground.

Ispace, a Japanese company, failed on its first landing attempt in 2023. Its second moon mission will uses a lander nearly identical to the one that crashed, with fixes to its software to avoid another crash. It will carry a small rover.

Astrobotic, which tried and failed to reach the moon earlier this year, is currently scheduled to carry VIPER, a NASA rover costing more than $400 million, to the south pole region later in 2024. Given that VIPER requires a new, larger lander and that Astrobotic remains unproven at landing on the moon, NASA could decide to delay the mission, which will play a key role in exploring the permanently shadowed craters before its astronauts explore them during future missions.

Another company joining the rush to the moon is Firefly of Cedar Park, Texas. It is planning to launch its Blue Ghost lunar lander on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the middle of this year.

As with the Intuitive Machines mission, NASA is the primary customer for the Firefly flight, paying Firefly at least $93 million under the CLPS program to take 10 instruments weighing about 330 pounds to Mare Crisium, a dark volcanic plain on the near side of the moon.

Mr. Crain said Odysseus is definitely on the moon and operating but it remains to be seen whether the mission can achieve its objectives.

Tim Crain, the chief technology officer who is leading mission control, said, “We’re not dead yet,” referencing a line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. He said they are receiving a faint signal from the spacecraft’s high-gain antenna.

It’s possible that Odysseus has crashed. It’s also possible there’s just a communications glitch.

Flight controllers are going through the last data they received, looking for clues about whether it’s a communications glitch or a more serious issue. Three minutes have passed since the expected landing time.

Still waiting to hear from the spacecraft.

A short interruption in communications was expected.

The expected time of landing has come and passed. Now flight controllers wait for the spacecraft to get back in touch.

The lander is deciding where it will land. Less than one minute.

The lander has performed the “pitchover” maneuver to a vertical orientation needed for a safe landing

There is a long pause after a request for the altitude.

Two minutes until touchdown.

Three minutes until landing time.

Even if the landing is successful, it’ll take a little bit — from 15 seconds to several minutes — before confirmation that it is safe on the surface. A short hiccup in communications after landing would not be necessarily worrisome.

The propulsion system is operating properly.

10 minutes until planned landing time.

Everything seems to be going well so far as we watch an animation of the landing.

The Odysseus lander has started its power descent. This is a 11-minute engine burn to slow down from 4,000 miles per hour. It is now on a path of no return to the lunar surface.

A mixed record for moon landings this year.

So far in 2024, humanity is one-for-two when it comes to landings of robotic spacecraft on the moon, though even the successful one, by JAXA, the Japanese space agency, was not quite perfect.

The Japanese spacecraft, Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, launched in September. Taking a long, slow but fuel-efficient path to the moon, it fired its engines to head to the surface on Jan. 19.

The main mission of SLIM was to test a vision-based navigation system and efficient computing algorithms, each designed to set the spacecraft within about 100 yards of a desired landing site. That is much better accuracy than technology on earlier spacecraft, where the uncertainty could be many miles.

JAXA officials said that SLIM’s technology appears to have met its objectives for a precision landing, with the spacecraft arriving intact at the surface. Japan thus became the fifth nation to successfully put a spacecraft on the moon.

But, just before landing, about 150 feet above the lunar surface, one of SLIM’s two main engines appears to have failed. The other engine attempted to compensate, but SLIM ended up tipping into an awkward position, with its engine nozzle pointed upward to space.

SLIM was still able to send radio signals back to Earth, telling JAXA officials that it had arrived. But its solar panels were facing the wrong direction, away from the sun, and the battery ran out of power less than three hours after landing.

As the sun shifted and struck its solar panels nine Earth days later, SLIM revived. The spacecraft was able to take some photographs and perform some measurements on nearby rocks before the sun set and SLIM again fell silent.

Another mission’s outcome was more clear-cut.

On Jan. 8, a lunar lander built by Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh headed to space carrying payloads for NASA, much like Intuitive Machines’s lander. But soon after it separated from its rocket, the lander suffered a major malfunction of its propulsion system.

As a result, it never even got close to the moon. Instead, when it swung back toward Earth, it ended up burning up in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.

Intuitive Machines said the original laser instrument it planned to rely on for guidance during descent is not working. The two-hour delay from the extra orbit allowed the uploading of updated software to use a LIDAR instrument provided by NASA instead. NASA's LIDAR instrument was intended to be experimental, not operational but it turns out to be a very handy backup.

What will happen as Odysseus tries to land on the moon.

Intuitive Machines had a landing plan for Odysseus that it announced in recent weeks. In the past day, that plan has changed substantially.

It started with an engine burn last night, which shifted the spacecraft to an elliptical orbit.

That adjusted orbit moved up the landing time but then flight controllers decided to make an extra orbit around the moon, pushing the landing time back by two hours.

At 6:11 p.m. Eastern time, the engine on Odysseus will start up again, and the spacecraft will begin its powered descent, slowing itself down. This will be the point of no return, and the spacecraft will be operating entirely on its own.

At 6:22 p.m., it will pivot to a vertical position.

Odysseus will track its position through a camera, matching the patterns of craters with stored maps and measuring its altitude. During the broadcast covering the landing, an Intuitive Machines spokesman said flight controllers decided to use a NASA lidar instrument to provide guidance and navigation during descent instead of a laser altimeter on the spacecraft.

Sensors will look for a safe spot, away from boulders and steep slopes.

For the last 50 feet or so of the descent, Odysseus will rely solely on its inertial measurement units, which act as the spacecraft’s inner ear, measuring the forces of acceleration. It will stop using the camera and the altitude-measuring laser to avoid being fooled by dust kicked up by the engine’s exhaust.

Intuitive Machines expects a 15-second delay after touchdown before it will be able to determine whether it is the first private company to land successfully on the moon.

It should be 6:24 p.m.

NASA and Intuitive Machines have started a joint video stream from Houston, where the company has its headquarters. You can watch it in the video player embedded above, and watch Times journalists here for analysis of the moon landing attempt over the next 90 minutes.

Intuitive Machines has not publicly given a reason about why it decided Odysseus needed to make an extra orbit around the moon, delaying the landing by two hours. This is pure speculation but it’s conceivable that the additional orbit would pass closer to the desired landing site, or perhaps flight controllers felt they needed more time for preparations or troubleshooting. There is no downside to waiting a little bit longer.

How Odysseus will take selfies while it lands.

When Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander is still about 100 feet over the surface of the moon, it will eject a small box.

That box is EagleCam, a system of cameras built by students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla. As it falls to the surface, the device will snap photos of Odysseus landing on the moon's surface — a sort of space selfie.

If it works, it will be the first student-built project to operate on the moon.

The $350,000 project resulted from a visit to Embry-Riddle in 2019 by the chief executive of Intuitive Machines, Steve Altemus, who is an alumnus of the university.

Mr. Altemus challenged the students to build a payload “with the goal of taking the first third-person view of a spacecraft landing,” said Troy Henderson, a professor of aerospace engineering. “So that was the starting point.”

During the final descent of Odysseus on Thursday, a spring will push EagleCam away from the spacecraft, and as the instrument falls — it will track its motion but lacks any propulsion to turn or move itself — three cameras with wide fields of view will be taking pictures.

“No matter what happens, if we slide or tumble or anything like that, one of those three cameras will see the lander,” Dr. Henderson said.

Even after EagleCam hits the ground at about 25 miles per hour, it should continue taking photographs. The students performed drop tests of a model of EagleCam into a sand pit with several inches of material simulating lunar soil on top. The test version survived.

“We’re pretty confident that we’ll be OK,” Dr. Henderson said.

One key to the success of EagleCam is that Odysseus has to land in operating condition, too. The Embry-Riddle device will send the photos to the lander, which will then relay them to Earth.

It was not a simple project.

“We were in the throes of design during Covid,” said Christopher Hays, a doctoral student who served as the lead engineer for EagleCam. “So how did we adapt to design a camera that was going to the moon while we were all on Zoom at our houses?”

The pandemic disrupted supply chains, adding more challenges. “We actually ordered a pack of screws from a company, and it came in nine months later,” Mr. Hays recalled. “Some of our initial budgets were off.”

There was also continual turnover as students graduated. “Then we had to kind of backfill and make sure that the new students knew what they were doing,” Mr. Hays said.

As landing approached, Mr. Hays said he was excited and confident. “There’s a peace knowing that it’s kind of out of our hands now,” he said. “We just have to trust the system to do what it’s built to do.”

Within a few hours after landing, Mr. Hays expects to find out how EagleCam did and, he hopes, see the photos it took.

An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of the EagleCam’s lead engineer. It is Hays, not Hayes.

How we handle corrections

A quick flight to the moon for Odysseus.

On Feb. 15, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sent Odysseus on a trajectory toward the moon. The journey was short by the standards of recent lunar missions, which took more gradual, fuel efficient journeys to the moon. India’s successful Chandrayaan-3 mission traveled for more than a month, and the journey of Japan’s SLIM mission lasted more than four months before reaching the lunar surface in January.

After Odysseus separated from its rocket, it successfully turned itself on. An initial engine burn to test the propulsion system was postponed because the liquid oxygen propellant took longer to chill down than ground-based tests had predicted.

Time lapse of a 5 ¾ hour journey: @Int_Machines IM-1 lunar lander #Odysseus and the tumbling #Falcon9 upper stage a distance of almost 290,000 km. Recorded from our station in South America. pic.twitter.com/q1LUKX213F — s2a systems (@s2a_systems) February 17, 2024

Engineers adjusted the ignition procedures, and the burn was successfully performed on Feb. 16.

Along the way, the spacecraft transmitted photographs taken of both Earth and the moon.

Flight controllers fired the engine twice more, on Feb. 18 and Feb. 20, to fine-tune the spacecraft’s path to the moon. The second effort was precise enough that the flight controllers decided to skip a planned third correction.

Odysseus is now in a circular orbit above the surface of the moon. It had been 57 miles up, but Intuitive Machines said on Thursday morning that it had raised the spacecraft’s orbit to a higher altitude, which it did not specify. Then on Thursday afternoon, it announced the spacecraft needed to take another lap around the moon before heading to the surface at a later hour.

If the company sticks to the current plan, about an hour before the scheduled landing time of 6:24 p.m. Eastern time, a final command will start the lander’s journey toward the surface.

When will Odysseus actually land on the moon? We keep getting surprised. Intuitive Machines just shared an update that the landing time is now scheduled for 6:24 p.m. Eastern time. The company had originally said 5:49 p.m., then 5:30 p.m. Then an update this morning said it was moved up to 4:24 p.m., perhaps because the spacecraft ended up in an orbit lower than what had been planned, and was moving faster than anticipated. Now, flight controllers decided to circle the moon one additional time before landing.

On the moon’s south pole, a quest for ice.

If you want to send astronauts to the moon, a place with water would be a good destination.

Obviously, humans need to drink water to survive, and water molecules can be split into hydrogen and oxygen. Oxygen provides air to breathe, and hydrogen and oxygen can also be used as rocket propellants to return home to Earth, or to travel somewhere else in the solar system.

But water is heavy, and lugging it from Earth is expensive and inconvenient.

The rocks brought back by NASA’s Apollo astronauts from 1969 through 1972 suggested that the moon was completely dry. But then, planetary scientists started seeing hints of water ice at the bottom of craters in the polar regions where the sun never shines. India’s first lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1 , collected some of the data that confirmed the presence of water.

An armada of missions headed to the lunar south pole aim to measure how much water is contained in the shadowed craters and how difficult it would be to extract it. (It could be very difficult if the water molecules are trapped within minerals, rather than as ice mixed in with the soil.)

Layers of ice in the craters could also provide a history of the solar system, much like how ice cores in Greenland and Antarctica provide a record of Earth’s climate.

Why private companies are aiming for the moon.

Where you might just see gray rocks, soil and craters on the moon, entrepreneurs see profit. And whatever happens during Thursday’s landing attempt, expect more companies to race toward the moon in the years ahead.

NASA is looking to send astronauts to the moon in the coming years, and robotic spacecraft will go there first. The space agency is financing a number of commercial missions through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, or CLPS. The program is modeled on NASA’s successful effort to rely on private companies for trips to and from the International Space Station.

For NASA, buying rides on private spacecraft to take instruments and equipment to the moon is cheaper than building its own vehicles. NASA also hopes to spur a new commercial industry around the moon.

So far, however, NASA has little to show for its efforts. Some of the companies that NASA had selected to bid for CLPS missions have already gone out of business. And Astrobotic of Pittsburgh’s first CLPS flight failed on its way to the moon last month.

The dream of a delivery service to the moon is not a new one.

In 2007, the X Prize Foundation announced a competition offering a $20 million grand prize to the first nongovernment-funded business or organization that could get a spacecraft to the surface of the moon and have it successfully perform a few tasks: moving 500 meters, or 1,640 feet, to a second location, and beaming data and video back to Earth.

Eleven years later, the competition ended without any of the teams even attempting a launch . Some of the X Prize teams like Astrobotic and Ispace, the parent company of the Japanese Hakuto team, continued, believing that they could develop a profitable business without the prize money.

Among other ambitious business ideas: mining the moon for helium-3 for future fusion power plants on Earth. Rare earth metals used in electronics could also potentially be extracted from lunar soil and rocks.

A layer of lunar protection that doubles as winter wear on Earth.

What does a winter coat have in common with a lunar lander?

For Columbia Sportswear, the apparel company with headquarters in Portland, Ore., the answer is that it makes a material used in both.

About a decade ago, the snow gear maker was inspired by the kinds of heat blankets that are wrapped around NASA spacecraft to reflect heat from the sun. But Columbia’s shiny gold-colored Omni-Heat lining does the opposite of the NASA protectors, reflecting body heat back to the wearer of the coat.

Intuitive Machines approached Columbia Sportswear to be a sponsor of the robotic lunar mission that is to land on the moon Thursday afternoon. In conversations, Intuitive Machines officials realized that Columbia made something they could use for their spacecraft. Like NASA, Intuitive Machines needed to make sure its spacecraft did not overheat when it was in bathed in sunlight. The Omni-Heat lining ended up wrapped around parts of the spacecraft’s exterior.

“It was more or less serendipitous,” Tim Boyle, the chief executive of Columbia Sportswear, said. “Hey, listen, we think we can help you guys with this thing.”

Columbia employees in Portland will gather to watch the landing. “We’ve got a full-size lunar lander in a conference room,” Mr. Boyle said. “We’re going to have a big party there. We’re going to be serving champagne and cake.”

Will Columbia start selling its lining to other spacecraft manufacturers too?

“This is sort of a new development in terms of how these technologies that we’ve developed could be used in other places,” Mr. Boyle said. “We’re pretty much an apparel company.”

But, he added: “Maybe. I don’t know.”

Zachary Small

Zachary Small

It’s not all rocket science: Jeff Koons packed sculptures aboard Odysseus.

The American artist Jeff Koons watched as a SpaceX rocket carrying 125 of his miniature moon sculptures and other cargo departed from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida last week.

“I grew up listening to President Kennedy speak about going to the moon,” Koons said in an interview before takeoff. “It gave our society a vision and drive that we could believe in ourselves and accomplish things.”

The artist said the project was inspired by his son Sean Koons, who approached him with the idea after seeing a proposal to send artworks to the moon. The project involved the digital arts and technology company NFMoon and the space exploration company 4Space, as well as support from Pace Gallery.

The moons are named after inspiring historical figures. “Leonardo da Vinci, Ada Lovelace, Plato, Billie Holiday,” Koons said, as he listed examples.

This is the cargo being carried by the Odysseus moon lander.

The Odysseus spacecraft is hexagonal in shape with six landing legs, standing about 14 feet tall and five feet wide. For fans of “Dr. Who,” the science fiction television show, the body of the lander is roughly the size of the Tardis, the time-traveling spacecraft that, on the outside, looks like an old British police telephone booth.

NASA is the main customer for the Intuitive Machines flight, paying the company $118 million to deliver six instruments to the lunar surface. They are:

A laser retroreflector array to bounce back laser beams fired from lunar orbit. That will act as a precise location marker for Odysseus. During the Apollo missions, astronauts left similar retroreflectors on the moon.

A LIDAR instrument will precisely measure the spacecraft’s altitude and velocity as it descends to the surface. LIDAR is similar to radar, except that it uses laser light instead of radio waves.

A stereo camera will capture video of the plume of dust kicked up by the lander’s engines during landing.

A low-frequency radio receiver will measure the effects of charged particles near the lunar surface on radio signals. That will provide information that could aid the design of future radio observatories on the lunar surface.

The Lunar Node-1 navigation beacon seeks to demonstrate an autonomous navigation system.

The lander’s propellant tank includes a NASA instrument that uses radio waves to measure how much propellant remains in the tank.

The lander is also carrying a few other payloads, including a camera built by students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.; a precursor instrument for a future moon telescope; and an art project by Jeff Koons .

A U.S.-built spacecraft lands on the moon for the first time in half a century.

For the first time in more than 50 years, an American spacecraft has landed on the moon.

The lander, named Odysseus, was built by Intuitive Machines of Houston. At 6:23 p.m. Eastern time the spacecraft touched the ground, making it the first privately built spacecraft to land on the lunar surface.

At first, Tim Crain, the mission director and Intuitive Machines’ chief technology officer, said it was uncertain if the spacecraft would be able to achieve its objectives, even though the spacecraft was on the moon and transmitting signals to Earth.

Still, in the face of that indeterminate outcome, Dr. Crain congratulated his colleagues in the flight control center at the company’s headquarters.

“Houston, Odysseus has found its new home,” Dr. Crain said.

The landing site was a flat area near the Malapert A crater, about 185 miles north of the moon’s south pole. The moon’s polar regions have attracted much interest in recent years because of water ice hidden in the shadows of craters there.

Odysseus left Earth early on Feb. 15 aboard a SpaceX rocket. It pulled into lunar orbit on Wednesday. About 12 minutes before landing on Thursday, it fired its engine to begin its descent to the surface.

From this point onward in the landing sequence, Odysseus was operating completely on its own, with flight controllers at Intuitive Machines’ control center powerless to change what happened.

To accomplish the landing, Intuitive Machines had to overcome late technical issues with the flight. During the coverage of the landing, a company spokesman said a laser instrument on the spacecraft that was to provide data on its altitude and velocity was not working.

That problem explained why the spacecraft took an extra orbit around the moon, which provided two hours for changes in the spacecraft’s software that allowed the use of an experimental NASA lidar instrument on the spacecraft instead.

StarLust

How long does it take to travel to the Moon?

Last Updated: November 23, 2022

Humans have always been fascinated by the prospect of visiting the Moon – our closest celestial neighbor, and the first stepping stone in the exploration of the solar system. Even with the use of modern technology and advanced propulsion systems, reaching the Moon remains a very difficult and very expensive endeavour.

So how long does it take to get to the Moon? The short answer is that it takes an average of 3 days to reach the Moon. 

Between 1969 and 1972, NASA sent 18 astronauts to the Moon as part of the Apollo space program . In addition, five nations and two political unions have successfully landed unmanned spacecraft on the lunar surface or placed them into lunar orbit.

The last Moon landing occurred almost 40 years ago! In fact, humans have not set foot on the lunar ground since December 14, 1972. That being said, NASA’s new “Artemis” mission is generating a great deal of public interest. The next Moon landing is scheduled for 2024!

So, what are the factors that can influence the duration of this incredible journey? Let’s dive in! Or should I say, let’s take off?

rocket launch at night

Cargo load is one of the many factors that can influence the time it takes to travel to the Moon.

Does the Moon's orbit affect the time it takes to get there?

We know that the Moon is located at an average distance of 238,855 miles from Earth. However, the trajectory of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is elliptical, with one side closer to the Earth than the other and an average eccentricity of 0.0549.

Since its path is not perfectly circular, there is a moment when the Moon is as close as possible to the Earth (lunar perigee) at 221,500 miles, and another moment when it is as far away as possible (lunar apogee) at 252,700 miles.

While the distance between the Moon and Earth is an important factor to consider when planning a spacecraft’s trajectory, other considerations come into play regarding the duration of the flight to the Moon.

Related reading : How Far Away is The Moon From Earth Right Now?

The duration of a journey to the Moon varies according to the following factors:

  • The chosen itinerary;
  • The selected type of propulsion system ;
  • The presence or the absence of crew members aboard the spacecraft;
  • Whether the spacecraft is scheduled to land on the surface, orbit around the Moon, or just fly by the Moon while heading towards a more distant target.

For example, if the space probe “New Horizons” was travelling at its maximum speed of 36,400 mph while the Moon is at perigee (221,500 miles), the probe would reach the Moon in only 6 hours and 15 minutes! If the Moon was at apogee (252,700 miles), the space probe would take about 6 hours and 50 minutes to pass by the Moon.

How long does it take to fly a manned spacecraft to the moon?

The most popular lunar mission is undoubtedly Apollo 11, during which the astronauts Neil Amstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins travelled to the Moon for the first time. After blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969, the astronauts landed on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969, and the journey took 75 hours and 49 minutes. 

To date, the Apollo 8 mission still holds the record for the shortest travel time ever achieved by a spacecraft carrying astronauts on board (69 hours et 8 minutes). In total, NASA conducted 6 lunar landings during the Apollo program.

Although other countries have conducted orbital placements as well as landings of unmanned spacecraft, the United States remains to this day the only country to have successfully landed astronauts on the Lunar surface.

As you can see in the table below, the time taken to reach the Moon is different for each Apollo mission. There are several explanations for this:

  • The purpose of some missions was only to orbit the Moon rather than land on it.
  • NASA was constantly researching and testing for the best possible trajectory.
  • Some missions involved transporting very heavy equipment, such as the lunar rover.

Apollo 12 lunar module landing

The Apollo 12 mission arrived on the Moon after a voyage that took three and a half days.

How long does it take to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon?

Even for unmanned space probes, there is no such thing as a consistent travel time… It all depends on whether the spacecraft is just passing by the Moon, whether it is intended to be placed into orbit or to land on the surface. New Horizons holds the record for the shortest trip to the Moon: 8 hours and 35 minutes! 

The record for the longest journey to the Moon is held by SMART-1, a space probe engineered by the European Space Agency: it took a full year to reach the Moon! Although SMART-1 is the slowest spacecraft to ever reach the Moon, it remains the most fuel-efficient spacecraft in history.

How long did it take Artemis 1 to reach the Moon?

Artemis 1 was launched on November 16 2022, at 6:47 am GMT (1:47 EST). This flight was the first in a series of missions planned by NASA as part of its Artemis program, which aims to land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024. The launch vehicle used for the mission was the SLS (Space Launch System), carrying the Orion spacecraft into space.

After a relatively smooth journey, Orion officially entered lunar orbit on November 21, at 7:57 am ET (12:57 UTC). In total, Artemis took 5 days, 1 hour, and 10 minutes to travel from Earth to the Moon. It is not the quickest flight we’ve seen, but the main goals were:

  • Test the flight systems
  • Test the new technology that was developed for the mission
  • Provide data on how the SLS performed, as well as insights into the health of Orion’s systems and overall performance.
  • Prepare for crewed missions starting next year.

Related Article: How Much of Space Have We Explored So Far?

In summary, the time it takes to reach the Moon is about 3 days on average for manned spacecraft. On the other hand, for unmanned spacecraft, the travel time can vary considerably depending on the mission objectives. They usually reach their destination much faster.

I eagerly look forward to the launch of the next lunar mission scheduled for 2024.  Mankind will return to the lunar surface for the first time in 40 years! And this time, a woman will be part of the crew! How amazing!

Is it possible that 40 years of technological progress will significantly reduce the time it takes to reach the Moon? Perhaps the new private space companies, such as SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, will beat all previous records? We’ll find out the answer in a few years…!

Tom Urbain

Written by Tom Urbain

I’ve been fascinated by space and astronomy from a very young age. When I’m not watching space-themed documentaries, movies or TV series, I spend most of my free time in my backyard admiring the planets and galaxies with my telescope.

Explore more space travel stories 🚀

This moon-related story is part of our collection of astronomy articles . If this piece sparked your interest, you’re sure to enjoy the fascinating insights offered in our subsequent articles.

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On July 20, 1969, a human walked on the Moon for the first time.

Relive the full journey to and from the the Moon with the timeline below.

Spiro Agnew and Lyndon Johnson Watch the Apollo 11 Liftoff

July 16, 1969 13:32:00 UTC (Universal Coordinated Time) 9:32 am ET (Eastern Time)

Liftoff! The Apollo 11 Spacecraft launched from Cape Kennedy.

Over a million spectators, including Vice President Spiro Agnew and former President Lyndon Johnson, have come to watch the lift off. 

Traveling to the Moon

From launch to landing, Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins were on a three day journey to the moon. One thing that was not widely publicized during the Apollo program was that the astronauts carried music with them into space. According to most accounts, the astronauts of Gemini and Apollo listened mainly to adult contemporary and country music. 

Neil Armstrong’s musical tastes were a bit more complex than his colleagues. He chose to bring something spacey onboard his space capsule: Theremin music. 

The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle, in a landing configuration

July 20, 1969 17:44 UTC 1:44 pm ET

The lunar module with Armstrong and Aldrin aboard was undocked from the command module. At 101:36 GET, the descent to the surface of the moon began.

Michael Collins stayed aboard the Command Module Columbia , serving as a communications link and photographing the lunar surface.

More about Collins's journey to the far side of the Moon

July 20, 1969 20:17 UTC 4:17 pm ET

The eagle has landed.

The lunar module touched down on the surface on the moon.

Apollo 11 Bootprint

July 20, 1969 2:51 UTC 10:51 pm ET

Neil Armstrong begins his descent from the lunar module and takes humankind’s first steps on the moon, followed by Buzz Aldrin. 

July 20, 1969 2:56 UTC 10:56 pm ET

That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind..

On the moon, the astronauts carried out a planned series of experiments. Approximately two hours and fifteen minutes later, the astronauts prepared to reenter the lunar module. 

About the experiments

Apollo 11 Lunar Module Ascent Stage Photographed from Command Module

July 21, 1969 17:54 UTC 1:54 pm ET

The ascent from the lunar surface began. At 21:35 UTC (5:35 pm ET) lunar module would rendezvous with the command and service modules, where Michael Collins would welcome back Aldrin and Armstrong. At 23:41 UTC (9:41 pm ET) Lunar Module  Eagle  was jettisoned into lunar orbit. 

What we left behind

July 22, 1969 4:55 UTC 11:55 pm ET

Apollo 11 left lunar orbit to return to Earth.

July 24, 1969 4:51 UTC 12:51 pm ET

Splashdown.

The astronauts returned to Earth. In case the Moon had any traces of biological pathogens, the astronauts had to stay in quarantine for 21 days. 

Apollo 11 Ticker-Tape Parade

After 21 Days in Quarantine

The United States celebrated the returning heroes in the time-honored tradition reserved for such occasions: parades. The astronauts were lauded at parades across the nation, from New York, to Chicago, to their hometowns, and eventually partook in a world tour.

More about welcoming the astronauts home

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Universe Today

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Space and astronomy news

journey to moon time

How Long Does It Take To Get To The Moon?

Back in 2008 , Richard Branson outlined his vision for Virgin Galactic’s future. Once tourists are taken into Earth orbit, it seems possible that space hotels could be developed for longer stop-overs in space. He then went on to mention that short “sight-seeing” tours to the Moon could be started from these ultimate hotels. If we are to make travel to the Moon routine enough to send tourists there, the trip would need to be as short as possible.

So how long is the commute from the Earth to the Moon anyway? Human beings and machines have made that trip on several occasions. And while some took a very long time, others were astonishingly fast. Let’s review the various missions and methods, and see which offers the most efficient and least time-consuming means of transit.

Many missions have arrived in lunar orbit and landed on the lunar surface, but the means of getting there are widely varying. Whether a mission uses a rocket to blast its way there, or a subtle ion engine to slowly edge its payload closer, we have many options open to us when we travel to the Moon in the future. To this end, I’ll give a quick rundown from slowest to fastest flights to Earth’s natural satellite 380,000 km away.

Unmanned Missions:

The slowest mission to fly to the Moon was actually one of the most advanced technologies to be sent into space. The ESA’s  SMART-1 lunar probe was launched on September 27th, 2003 and used a revolutionary ion engine to propel it to the Moon. SMART-1 slowly spiraled out from the Earth to arrive at its destination one year, one month and two weeks later on November 11th, 2004.

SMART-1

SMART-1 may have been slow, but it was by far the most fuel efficient. The craft used only 82 kg of xenon propellant for the entire mission (ending with a lunar impact in 2006). The SMART-1 mission is an oddity as it is by far the longest mission to the Moon, the rest of the missions took a matter of days to reach lunar orbit.

China’s Chang’e-1 mission was launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center on October 24th 2007 but sat in Earth orbit til October 31st when it began its transit to the Moon and arrived in lunar orbit on November 5th. The mission therefore took five days to cover the distance, using its rocket boosters. This was followed up by the Chang’e 2 orbiter, which launched on Oct 1st 2010 and arrived in lunar orbit within 4 days and 16 hours .

More recently, Chang’e 3 probe and lander launched on Dec. 1st, 2013 at 17:30 UTC and arrived in Lunar orbit on December 6th at 9:53 UTC. It was therefore the fastest of the Chang’e missions, taking 4 days, 12 hours, and 23 minutes to reach the Moon before deplyoing its lander to the lunar surface.

Mosaic of the Chang'e-3 moon lander and the lunar surface taken by the camera on China’s Yutu moon rover from a position south of the lander during Lunar Day 3. Note the landing ramp and rover tracks at left. Credit: CNSA/SASTIND/Xinhua/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer

However, it was the first-even unmanned mission to the Moon that was the fastest. This mission was known as the Soviet Luna 1 probe, which completed a flyby of the Moon in 1959. This basic, but pioneering probe was launched on January 2nd and flew past the Moon by a few thousand kilometers on January 4th. It only took 36 hours to make the trip, therefore traveling an average speed of 10,500 km/hr.

Manned Missions:

The Apollo missions, which were the only manned Lunar mission, were fairly quick in reaching the Moon. Naturally, it was the Apollo 11 mission, where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the Moon, that made the greatest headlines. This mission began on July 16th, 1969, where a Saturn V multi-stage rocket took the astronauts from Kennedy Space Center into orbit.

They reached lunar orbit after only 51 hours and 49 minutes in space, arriving on July 19th, 1969. The famous “One small step for man…” speech would not take place until July 21st, roughly 109 hours and 42 minutes into the mission. After dusting off from the Lunar surface, the Lunar Module spent another 2 days, 22 hours and 56 minutes getting back to Earth. So in addition to be the first manned mission, Apollo 11 was also the fastest trip to the Moon where astronauts were involved.

Earth viewed from the Moon by the Apollo 11 spacecraft. Credit: NASA

Fastest Mission to Date:

By far, the fastest mission to fly past the Moon was NASA’s  New Horizons Pluto mission. This mission had a speedy launch, with its Atlas V rocket accelerating it to a a speed of about 16.26 km per second (58,536 km/h; 36,373 mph). At this rate, it only took 8 hours and 35 minutes for it to get to the Moon from Earth. Quite a good start for this probe, which was on its way to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt at the time.

Although this is impressive, it’s worth keeping in mind that New Horizons was not slowing down to enter lunar orbit (as was the case all of the manned and unmanned mission to the Moon mentioned above). Hence, it was probably still accelerating long after it had placed the Moon in its rear view mirror (assuming it had one).

Mission concepts like the Space Launch System and Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) will also come into play in the near future. On December 5th, 2014, an unmanned test of the Orion capsule took place, officially known as Exploration Flight Test 1 . Having launched atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket, the capsule reached Low Earth Orbit, achieved two orbits of the Earth, and then splashed down again 4.5 hours later.

New Horizons

During the course of the flight, EFT-1 reached speeds of up to 8.9 km/s (32,187 km/h; 20,000 mph). At this velocity, an Orion mission could conceivably make it to the Moon (at an average distance of 384,400 km) in nearly 12 hours. Obviously, adjustments will have to be made for weight (since it will need a crew), and deceleration. But still, that’s not a bad framework for a tourist flight.

So, when space tourism begins mounting sight-seeing tours or missions to the Moon, they will have a few options. They could offer long cruises, gently gliding to the Moon using ion engines to slowly let the tourists take in the views. Or they could opt for the exhilarating rocket ride of a lifetime, blasting tourists off into space and whipping them back in just a day or two. Hard to say which one people would prefer, but surely there are many who would pay handsomely for the opportunity.

We Have written many interesting articles about the Moon here at Universe Today. Here’s Who Were The First Men On The Moon? , How Many People Have Walked On The Moon? , What Is The Distance To The Moon? , and You Could Fit All The Planets Between The Earth And The Moon .

For more information, be sure to check out NASA’s page on The Earth’s Moon and Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute

Original publication date April 10, 2008

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34 Replies to “How Long Does It Take To Get To The Moon?”

Ian: I think I’d go for the quicker ride using chemical propulsion rather than the Ion propulsion option. While Ion propulsion would be far more fuel-efficient and several times faster than chemical propulsion — “in the long run” (it takes a lot of time to build up acceleration) — the tourist(s) onboard would die of boredom or old age 🙂 The additional mass of each tourist would only hinder the delay-time for an appreciable thrust to build up in the spacecraft, and having gained that thrust, how, afterwards does one slow it down again — the Ion propulsion system just wouldn’t be strong or quick enough for decelleration requirements. A chemical propulsion system, on the other hand, would do, however, that means adding fuel onboard which increases the mass again, and means a longer period to build up acceleration. A combination of the two (Ion and Chemical) is inevitably the answer down the line, however, these would probably be more applicable for trips to Mars and other planets/moon in our Solar System.

Joel: This sounds like the ideal time-requirement for the tourist(s) involved, and I don’t think the health problems associated with radiation risks…etc., would come into play if you stuck to your overall trip time-period as stated. Don’t know if I would survive those G’s you mention, however, please put me down for a trip when it eventually gets going (just mention my name to Richard — he’ll understand :-)) John — http://www.moonposter.ie Moon News — http://www.moonposter.ie/news.htm Moon Missions — http://www.moonposter.ie/missions.htm (Kaguya, Chang’e-1, Chandrayaan-1, LRO, GRAIL & LADEE, LunaGlob, LEO, MoonLITE)

What about more powerful ION drives? We could use a Earth-orbit space laser to power the drive.

What about photonic drives?

In 2006 “Dr. Young Bae of the Bae Institute first demonstrated his Photonic Laser Thruster (PLT) with an amplification factor of 3,000”

The paper says ~1mN per 10 watts and no reaction mass required.

http://baeinstitute.com/downloads/STAIF_2006_YK_Bae_FF_Paper.pdf

On paper, presuming slightly higher than a 300 kilometer orbit, with as low as possible an eccentricity and as near to originating in a low earth orbit well aligned with the plain of the moon’s orbit – our hypothetical Virgin Lunar spacecraft could, in theory, accelerate from 7330 meters per second to around 18,500 meters per second in around eleven minutes, while pulling from 1.8 to a high of 2.5 gees, arriving in the lunar vicinity in from 6.9 to 7.5 hours, depending on whether the destination was at it’s highest or lowest point in distance from Earth.

Of necessity, this TLI would result in anything but a free-return trajectory, of course, and breaking to slow for lunar orbital insertion would require just as rough and an even more sustained burn that would begin while while still nearly ten lunar radii distant from the closest passage over the 174 to 179 meridian – and end minutes before Loss of Signal, and in lunar orbit watching, an earthset. in a retrograde orbit falling around the moon’s farside.

Presuming one had enough fuel and very few and very hardy passengers, and were not attempting a landing, the return trip could be executed in a longer period after a shorter burn only half of which would still be underway at earthrise – mainly because it would originate from an orbital speed around the moon of ~1.6 kilometers per second and because my orbital mechanic skills breaks down quite a bit at this point … causing the margin of error to require a range of 11.9 to well over 24 plus hours to safely return to lunar orbit.

Either way, the tolerances clearly exceed the comfort and fuel requirements of any craft ever constructed, but, hey, the exposure to Van Allen radiation, solar protons and cosmic rays would certainly be reduced!

Nevertheless, one could hardly call such highly hyperbolic moonstorming “safe!”

Still, it’s interesting to consider the possibility of arriving at the moon in less time than many trans-Atlantic flights. It would be a the ride of a lifetime.

On second though, scratch that lunar meridian number. That is, of course, not correct. And forgive the typos. In an emergency situation requiring medical help for lunar missions, I think we’ll continue our work with telemedicine and biorobotics. LOL.

But won’t both ‘Ion’ and ‘Photonic’ drives as means of propulsion systems still require build-up times that the tourist(s) onboard the craft will have to wait for. There’s no doubt in the technology that both systems (and other systems like solar sails etc.,) produce propulsion, however, their use for getting the tourist(s) onboard to the Moon in any reasonable time is just too long, isn’t it? Those onboard would, therefore, end up waiting and waiting for any significant thrust to get moving close to the necessary speeds required, and by that time their patience would have run out. I looked at that paper you suggested and it’s obvious the research is based around micro, pico and nano satellites flying in formation (forgive me if I don’t fully understand their findings as I’m not an expert), but the propulsions quoted are for satellites weighing in from 10 – 100 kg. At minimum, spacecrafts [with toursist(s)] going to the Moon currently weigh in at their tonnage, and if they were to have an independent, proposed Ion and Photonic propulsion system onboard, these systems would have to be huge again for any appreciable output in light source requirements to get them moving, wouldn’t they? That means additional mass, which means build-up times are longer again, which means bored-to-death (dead) tourist(s) that never even get close to the Moon in sutiable times that they can endure.

John — http://www.moonposter.ie Moon News — http://www.moonposter.ie/news.htm Moon Missions — http://www.moonposter.ie/missions.htm (Kaguya, Chang’e-1, Chandrayaan-1, LRO, GRAIL & LADEE, LunaGlob, LEO, MoonLITE)

The ion slow boat to lunar absorption will become a religious pilgrimage.

Why not just go the traditional 2-3 day route and have photgrahic equipment on board to be able to “sight see” the cosmos while enroute?? There are plenty of things worth seeing in our own galaxie that could be easily glimpsed while on the way. Modern astronomy is incredible! Personally I could never be “bored” or even SLEEP on a three day trip to the moon. By the time I was done looking at Earth, the next day would be spent looking at the moon and visa versa. You would never see the same spot for very long anyway or see “it all”. We truely have the attention spans of a gnat when we talk of being “bored” on a 2-3 day trip to the moon! We should be ashamed of that American trait !!!!!

Fraser and Ian, thanks for this insightful article, but it would be nice if someone were to suggest a practical schedule for getting to the moon. Traveling at more than 1.25 g is probably not a good idea for overweight, smoker tourists and traveling ad less than .75 g might also have its risks, so what if we traveled somewhere inbetween, and what if we varied the length of acceleration.

Of course, the best and fastest way to get to the moon would be to simply build very powerful and long range transporter beams (grin)

If we could build a spaceship capable of 1G constant acceleration / deceleration for extended periods of time, then (if my calculations are correct) we could travel in comfort from Earth to the Moon in about 3.5 hours. One G accleration to the midway point takes about 1.75 hours, followed by 1G deceleration to reach the moon). This assumes we could turn off the engine and rotate the ship quickly at the midway point, with the passengers being weightless then.

thats gonna be a lot of burnt up fuel that will be just ‘gone’. I think we need use use mini nuclear power or something new.

This type of trip would be a dream and fantastic to anyone old enough to be a kid in the early 70s. I know that I have always wanted to go into space, orbiting the moon would be even that much better.

One has to wonder how quickly the price for such travel could become realistic and of course once the excitement in lunar orbits wears off for the populace in general I am sure an actual lunar landing and bouncing around on the moon would be one of the greatest adventures anyone could dream to go on.

I have to agree with Gudenboink, there is no way that anyone could get bored on a trip like this, anyone that could get bored on this grand adventure would not be interested in going in the first place.

I think that if they were to bill it as a two week “cruise” to the moon, it would work out the best. People spend weeks at sea on these cruise ships with nothing but the big blue to see- but there are other sources of entertainment during their trip.

Also, using a dedicated ship in space to travel to the moon seems to be the most practical. Launch into space in a rocket, dock with the “cruise ship” where you offload the fuel and other supplies, and then you are on your way. Once you return, you dock again with another ship bringing up passengers, and they take down those that are returning. This mode seems the most cost effective, as you are not launching the mass of the lunar transport vehicle, just the payload.

just my .02

Baggage allowance?

Overweight baggage fees?

Would it be cheaper for lighter folk, excellent excuse to lose some pounds

Fitness Guy & Gudenboink:

On boredom …etc. I was really talking in the context of using an Ion and Photonic driven spacecraft — it could take upto several weeks and months (years???) to get you and others to the Moon using these systems.

But as for the three-day trip to the Moon…I’d have one eye on the receding Earth below, the other eye on the expanding Moon above, and I difinitely wouldn’t be bored (or boring, as I may have come across in my comments re: Ion/Photonic context…SORRY!).

John — http://www.moonposter.ie

An Apollo 8 or 10 free-return trajectory will be the preferred option as high-speed means tons more propellant and, unless you’re landing, not a lot of loitering time near the Moon.

The whole subject of tourist travel in space is moonshine until there is a space elevator to reduce the cost of moving mass to earth orbit by orders of magnitude.

“…[New Horizons] was probably still accelerating as the Moon was a dot in its rear view window”.

Bzzt wrong. The initial boost only lasted a few minutes. New horizons only accelerated once once it passed the moon and that was the Jupiter gravity assist.

To ioresult:

Hehe, got me there. Damn! (But you can see by my uncertainty when I say *probably*.) Thanks for the info, good to know. Wow, that’s one hell of a boost!

Cheers, Ian

Si en el futuro el viaje a la Luna será algo tan rutinario como para enviar turistas, el viaje debería ser lo más corto posible. ¿Pero cuánto tarda un viaje a la Luna? Hombres y máquinas ya han hecho ese viaje, algunos tomaron mucho tiempo y otros fueron increíblemente veloces. […] Ian O’Neill para Universe Today

I personally think this is just a ploy to gain money and raise attention however my heart says I hope it is true

The sooner we start space touring and colonization the better. Humanity needs to span outwards to survive.

its rubbish

I have to agree with Richard Branson. Why not build hotels in space? That way the tourists can travel to the space hotel in a standard rocket (where they can experience the thrill of high g-forces). Thenonce they get to the space hotel, wait a few hours or days experiencing weightlessness, then take a shuttle to the Moon, using the Earth’s gravity as a slingshot effect to reduce fuel costs, then voila, the moon! On the return trip back to the space hotel, they can use the Moon’s gravity in a similar slingshot effect to get back to Earth. Of course, only the filthy rich tourists will help pay for the luxury of going to the Moon, while the rest of us cretins will grumble and complain, at least in the beginning. Someday going to the Moon will be comparitively expensive as having a car, or a personal computer. Does anyone remember how expensive they were when they first came out???? 😀

Rocket Maaaaaan! It would be cool to go up there.

Are humanity close to build a space ship capable of 1G constant acceleration as Phil Jackson says?

I hope Branson’s Lunar Service is better than Virgin Media Broadband and Virgin Trains, which are appalling – otherwise it is a belt ‘n’ braces job.

this is some verry interesting information. how long would this even take?

For fuel cost’s sake, because I’m assuming that rocket fuel costs quite a bit, why not consider an H2O electrolysis based rocket? Have a huge water tank, a small nuclear reactor onboard (or some other high energy production device), then split the water into HHO and burn it for the fuel. It might make hydrolygists upset if a considerable amount of Earth’s water is taken out of our atmosphere never to be recollected, but humans use now and worry later right?

i what to no how long does it take to get to the moon fast

can i get a dvd of the solar for my home?

What is the average time to get to the moon?? PLease I really want to know…

I can’t wait until all of this becomes a reality!!!

it is sooooooooooooo amazing how fast you can get to the moon!

Want to take a ride to the moon! well am Gone…… i´ll be back in 17.10hrs

Comments are closed.

NASA Logo

Journey to the Moon

the Moon, up close against a black sky, fills the right-hand side of the image.

The approximately 250,000-mile journey from Earth to the moon took Apollo astronauts about three days.

The closest look we’ve had at the moon came from the launch of NASA’s Apollo program in the 1960s. Between 1967 and 1972, a series of missions landed the first men on the moon. Equipped with handheld cameras, Apollo astronauts documented their journey, capturing photos of the moon and its rocky terrain through surveys conducted from lunar orbit and on the ground. The collection of moon exploration photos includes up-close views of impact craters, mountain ranges, volcanic channels and maria—dark regions believed to have been formed from molten rock. The images are part of a massive archive of more than 14,000 photos taken by Apollo astronauts.

journey to moon time

Sep 7, 2023

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'Welcome to the moon': Odysseus becomes 1st American lander to reach the moon in 52 years

Houston-based intuitive machines' lander is now the first commercial spacecraft to ever land on the surface of the moon, and the first american craft to do so since nasa's final apollo mission in 1972.

journey to moon time

For the first time in more than five decades, Americans have returned to the moon .

Well, American robots, at least.

A week after launching aboard a SpaceX rocket, the uncrewed Odysseus spacecraft gently touched down on the surface of the moon late Thursday, ushering in a historic moon landing.

The lander, designed and operated by Houston-based Intuitive Machines , is now the first commercial spacecraft to ever land on the moon. The lunar landing is also the first by an American-built spacecraft since NASA's final Apollo mission in 1972.

"Houston, Odysseus has found its new home," Stephen Altemus, president and CEO of Intuitive Machines, said shortly after the landing at 5:23 p.m. CST.

The announcement came about 10 minutes after it happened after some communications challenges. Tension built as the team behind the IM-1 mission waited for confirmation with bated breath.

"I know this was a nail-biter, but we are on the surface and we are transmitting," Altemus said. "Welcome to the moon."

What is the Odysseus lunar lander?

Nicknamed for the Greek hero of Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey," the Odysseus lander hitched a ride to orbit last Thursday aboard the  SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket , which launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Read more: What Odysseus will do now .

Intuitive Machines built the Odysseus to carry cargo for NASA and other private customers to the lunar surface for its  IM-1 mission . Formally called a Nova-C, the lander is a 14-foot-tall  hexagonal cylinder  with six legs that the space company has operated from a mission control center in Houston.

A failed lunar lander attempt

Odysseus may be the first privately built spacecraft to reach the moon, but it's hardly the first to try.

In January, Pittsburgh-based aerospace company Astrobotic sent its Peregrine lander on a doomed mission to the moon that ended with the spacecraft  burning up in Earth's atmosphere  days later.

Shortly after the craft separated from the United Launch Alliance's  Vulcan  rocket, Peregrine's propulsion began  leaking a critical amount of propellant  that forced Astrobotic to abandon plans of landing on the moon.

Intuitive Machines lander's journey to the moon

Intuitive Machines encountered hiccups along the way – including temporary communication delays – but none so detrimental that it could threaten the mission.

After separating from the SpaceX rocket last week, it took the lander 48 minutes to reach its orbit before it established communication with ground control in Houston, Intuitive Machines said. An engine firing Friday  helped position the lander toward the moon and allowed flight controllers to determine that the engine burn and throttle systems needed to land were functioning as intended.

The tests set the Odysseus craft up to enter lunar orbit Wednesday ahead of its landing Thursday near the moon's south polar region. Scientists have long been interested in studying the south pole because of the water ice thought to be abundant within its craters.

Intuitive Machines is working with NASA

Intuitive Machines' lunar mission is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

The U.S. space agency has a budget of  $2.6 billion in contracts  available through 2028 to pay private companies to place scientific payloads on private robotic landers like Odysseus bound for the lunar surface. The success of Intuitive Machines in putting a lander on the moon will now pave the way for NASA to work with more commercial entities on future space endeavors.

As the primary customer for the Odysseus mission, NASA paid Intuitive Machines $118 million to take its scientific payloads to the moon. The instruments will collect valuable data for NASA as it prepares to send astronauts back to the lunar surface for its Artemis program for the first time since the last Apollo mission 52 years ago.

NASA's Artemis program mission delayed

NASA had intended to launch its Artemis II astronauts into orbit by the end of the year on a 10-day trip circumnavigating the moon ahead of a moon landing itself a year later for Artemis III. But the Artemis program missions have since been delayed by at least a year after NASA encountered a slew of issues, including a battery flaw on the vehicle that will ferry astronauts to the moon.

Once NASA is  back on track in the years ahead , the agency intends to send a crew to the moon's south polar region, where it will will lay the groundwork for NASA to establish a permanent human presence on and around the moon ahead of future  missions to Mars .

Contributing: Amanda Lee Myers and Mike Snider.

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]

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Intuitive Machines lands on the moon in historic first for a U.S. company

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  • Intuitive Machines' Nova-C cargo lander, named "Odysseus" after the mythological Greek hero, is the first U.S. spacecraft to soft land on the lunar surface since 1972.
  • Intuitive Machines is the first company to pull off a moon landing — government agencies have carried out all previously successful missions.
  • The company's stock surged in extended trading Thursday, after falling 11% in regular trading.

In this article

A U.S. company has gone to the moon – and into the history books.

Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission reached the moon's surface on Thursday evening, in the first American lunar landing since the Apollo era.

The company's Nova-C cargo lander, named "Odysseus" after the mythological Greek hero, is the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the lunar surface since 1972. Adding to the feat, Intuitive Machines is the first company to pull off a moon landing — government agencies have carried out all previously successful missions.

"We are on the surface and we are transmitting. Welcome to the moon," Intuitive Machines' CEO Steve Altemus said from mission control.

There was a delay, as expected, between the landing and when engineers were able to assess its success.

A few minutes after the expected landing time, Intuitive Machines' mission control was still trying to reconnect communications with the spacecraft to confirm whether it landed. The company's mission control ultimately picked up a signal and announced its lander was on the surface.

"What we can confirm, without a doubt, is that our equipment is on the surface of the moon and we are transmitting. So congratulations, IM-1," Tim Crain, Intuitive Machines' CTO and IM-1 mission director, said.

"Odysseus has found his new home," Crain added.

Two hours after the landing, Intuitive Machines said in a statement that "flight controllers have confirmed Odysseus is upright and starting to send data."

The company's stock surged in extended trading Thursday, after falling 11% in regular trading to close at $8.28 a share.

Intuitive Machines, a Houston, Texas-based company founded in 2013, went public a year ago. After shares hit an all-time low in early January, the stock has surged and more than tripled – a rally that Wall Street analysts describe as fueled by investor excitement around the IM-1 mission's progress.

Odysseus' journey

The lander began a series of maneuvers about one hour before touching down, starting with "Descent Orbit Insertion.

IM-1 landed in the "Malapert A" crater, about 300 kilometers from the moon's south pole. After landing, Intuitive Machines aims to operate Odysseus on the surface for up to seven days.

The mission launched on a SpaceX rocket on Feb. 15 . It is carrying 12 government and commercial payloads — six of which are for NASA under an $118 million contract.

The hexagonal lander is 4.3 meters (or about 14 feet) tall, and its legs spread 4.6 meters (or about 15 feet) wide, making the spacecraft about the size of an SUV stood on its end.

Sign up here to receive weekly editions of CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter .

NASA leadership emphasized before the launch that "IM-1 is an Intuitive Machines' mission, it's not a NASA mission." IM-1 marks the second mission under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which aims to deliver science projects and cargo to the moon with increasing regularity in support of the agency's  Artemis crew program .

"Today, for the first time in more than a half century, the U.S. has returned to the moon. Today, for the first time in the history of humanity, a commercial company and an American company launched and led the voyage up there," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on the livestream

Last month, Pittsburgh-based company  Astrobotic  got its first moon mission off the ground but encountered problems shortly after launch. The flight was cut short and failed to make a lunar landing attempt.

NASA views CLPS missions as a learning experience. The program is designed to create an industrial base of companies that the agency can pay to fly its payloads on comparatively low-cost missions .

Lunar geopolitics

IM-1 is also the latest move in a broader geopolitical race to the moon. While Intuitive Machines represents the latest American effort, other nations – both U.S. rivals and allies – are pouring money into lunar programs.

Last month,  Japan  became the fifth country to land on the moon, following Russia, the U.S., China and  India .

Governments and private companies alike have made  more than 50 attempts  to land on the moon with mixed success since the first attempts in the early 1960s, and the track record has remained shaky even in this century. But that's not deterring the modern moon race that's now well underway.

NASA expects U.S. companies to launch  additional missions  this year, while China plans to launch its next lunar lander in May. 

Here's why the U.S., China, India, Japan and others are rushing back to the moon

journey to moon time

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1969 Moon Landing

By: History.com Editors

Updated: July 17, 2023 | Original: August 23, 2018

Apollo 11

On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (1930-) became the first humans ever to land on the moon. About six-and-a-half hours later, Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. As he took his first step, Armstrong famously said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." The Apollo 11 mission occurred eight years after President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) announced a national goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Apollo 17, the final manned moon mission, took place in 1972.

JFK's Pledge Leads to Start of Apollo Program

The American effort to send astronauts to the moon had its origins in an appeal President Kennedy made to a special joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961: "I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth." 

At the time, the United States was still trailing the Soviet Union in space developments, and Cold War -era America welcomed Kennedy's bold proposal. In 1966, after five years of work by an international team of scientists and engineers, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducted the first unmanned Apollo mission , testing the structural integrity of the proposed launch vehicle and spacecraft combination. 

Then, on January 27, 1967, tragedy struck at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, when a fire broke out during a manned launch-pad test of the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn rocket. Three astronauts were killed in the fire.

President Richard Nixon spoke with Armstrong and Aldrin via a telephone radio transmission shortly after they planted the American flag on the lunar surface. Nixon considered it the "most historic phone call ever made from the White House."

Despite the setback, NASA and its thousands of employees forged ahead, and in October 1968, Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, orbited Earth and successfully tested many of the sophisticated systems needed to conduct a moon journey and landing. 

In December of the same year, Apollo 8 took three astronauts to the far side of the moon and back, and in March 1969 Apollo 9 tested the lunar module for the first time while in Earth orbit. That May, the three astronauts of Apollo 10 took the first complete Apollo spacecraft around the moon in a dry run for the scheduled July landing mission.

Timeline of the 1969 Moon Landing

At 9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, with the world watching, Apollo 11 took off from Kennedy Space Center with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins (1930-) aboard. Armstrong, a 38-year-old civilian research pilot, was the commander of the mission.

After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered into a lunar orbit on July 19. The next day, at 1:46 p.m., the lunar module Eagle, manned by Armstrong and Aldrin, separated from the command module, where Collins remained. Two hours later, the Eagle began its descent to the lunar surface, and at 4:17 p.m. the craft touched down on the southwestern edge of the Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong immediately radioed to Mission Control in Houston, Texas, a now-famous message: "The Eagle has landed."

At 10:39 p.m., five hours ahead of the original schedule, Armstrong opened the hatch of the lunar module. As he made his way down the module's ladder, a television camera attached to the craft recorded his progress and beamed the signal back to Earth, where hundreds of millions watched in great anticipation.

At 10:56 p.m., as Armstrong stepped off the ladder and planted his foot on the moon’s powdery surface, he spoke his famous quote, which he later contended was slightly garbled by his microphone and meant to be "that's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

Aldrin joined him on the moon's surface 19 minutes later, and together they took photographs of the terrain, planted a U.S. flag, ran a few simple scientific tests and spoke with President Richard Nixon (1913-94) via Houston. 

By 1:11 a.m. on July 21, both astronauts were back in the lunar module and the hatch was closed. The two men slept that night on the surface of the moon, and at 1:54 p.m. the Eagle began its ascent back to the command module. Among the items left on the surface of the moon was a plaque that read: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon—July 1969 A.D.—We came in peace for all mankind."

At 5:35 p.m., Armstrong and Aldrin successfully docked and rejoined Collins, and at 12:56 a.m. on July 22 Apollo 11 began its journey home, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:50 p.m. on July 24.

How Many Times Did the US Land on the Moon?

There would be five more successful lunar landing missions, and one unplanned lunar swing-by. Apollo 13 had to abort its lunar landing due to technical difficulties. The last men to walk on the moon, astronauts Eugene Cernan (1934-2017) and Harrison Schmitt (1935-) of the Apollo 17 mission, left the lunar surface on December 14, 1972. 

The Apollo program was a costly and labor-intensive endeavor, involving an estimated 400,000 engineers, technicians and scientists, and costing $24 billion (close to $100 billion in today's dollars). The expense was justified by Kennedy's 1961 mandate to beat the Soviets to the moon, and after the feat was accomplished, ongoing missions lost their viability.

Apollo 11 Photos

Apollo 11

HISTORY Vault: Moon Landing: The Lost Tapes

On the 50th anniversary of the historic moon landing, this documentary unearths lost tapes of the Apollo 11 astronauts, and explores the dangers and challenges of the mission to the moon.

journey to moon time

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NASA’s microwave oven-sized CubeSat dubbed CAPSTONE is flying solo, blazing an unusual yet efficient deep space route to the Moon. The CubeSat is heading toward an unique orbit intended in the future for Gateway , a lunar space station built by the agency and its commercial and international partners that will support science and human exploration under Artemis .

During the next four months, CAPSTONE – short for the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment – will rack up serious mileage hurtling through deep space on its traverse from Earth to the Moon. Assisted by the Sun’s gravity, the spacecraft will reach a distance of 958,000 miles from Earth – more than three times the distance between Earth and the Moon – before being pulled back towards the Earth-Moon system.

This sinuous, gravity-driven track – called a ballistic lunar transfer , or BLT – dramatically reduces the amount of fuel the CubeSat needs to get to its target orbit. Rocket Lab’s Photon upper stage released CAPSTONE onto a BLT trajectory to the Moon on July 4. Since then, the CubeSat is using its own propulsion and the Sun’s gravity to navigate to its destination. When CAPSTONE catches up to the Moon on Nov. 13, its approach will be perfectly aligned for lunar orbit insertion.

NASA invites the public to follow CAPSTONE’s journey live. You can virtually ride along with the CubeSat with a simulated view of our solar system using  NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System interactive real-time 3D data visualization – a digital model of the solar system. This simulated view of our solar system runs on real data. The positions of the planets, moons, and spacecraft – including CAPSTONE – are shown where they are right now.

Learn more:

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  • NASA’s Eyes Software Resources
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For news media :

Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the  NASA Ames newsroom .

CAPSTONE is commercially owned and operated by Advanced Space in Westminster, Colorado. It represents an innovative collaboration between NASA and industry to provide rapid results and feedback to inform future exploration and science missions.

The CubeSat was designed and built by Terran Orbital Corporation. CAPSTONE includes contributions from Stellar Exploration, Inc., Space Dynamics Lab, Tethers Unlimited, Inc., and Orion Space Systems.

NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program within the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) funds the demonstration mission. The program is based at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The development of CAPSTONE’s navigation technology is supported by NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program, also within STMD.

The Artemis Campaign Development Division within NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate funds the launch and supports mission operations. The Launch Services Program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida manages the launch service. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory supports the communication, tracking, and telemetry downlink via NASA’s Deep Space Network, Iris radio design, and groundbreaking 1-way navigation algorithms.

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Why a private mission to the moon is still a win for America

  • Joelle Renstrom

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center with Intuitive Machines' Nova-C moon lander mission, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 15. (Photo by Gregg Newton / AFP via Getty Images)

In spaceflight lingo, “seven minutes of terror” describes the tense stretch of time when mission control loses communication with a spacecraft during the final descent to its celestial destination. Throughout these seemingly endless minutes, humans can only cross their fingers and hope the craft navigates the landing successfully on its own.

While seven minutes sounds like a long time to be out of contact with a spacecraft, the past two successful moon landings — India’s in 2023 and Japan’s earlier this year — involved 18 and 20 minutes of terrifying silence. Thursday, employees of Intuitive Machines, SpaceX and NASA will endure a similar, agonizing silence as the Odysseus lander tries to settle safely on the moon.

A successful lunar landing by Odysseus would be the first by a private company and would underscore the fundamental role public-private partnerships will play in America's space future. It would also be a much-needed win for American space flight, which for years has been in a holding pattern. Although the U.S. was the first country to put a person on the moon, we've long been behind in the race to return and to develop a consistent lunar presence.

Odysseus , made by Intuitive Machines and affectionately known as “Odie,” launched on Feb. 15. The six-day journey to lunar orbit will culminate in a landing attempt in a crater called Malapert A , near the south pole of the moon. So far, only spacecraft from China and India have landed on this hemisphere of the moon, with India’s Chandrayaan-3 touching down farther south in a region scientists believe contains large quantities of water in the form of ice .   Extracting and processing that ice could support astronauts living on the moon, as well as facilitate the production of rocket fuel, sparing crews from having to return to Earth to refuel.

This mission is significant and historic. If successful, Odysseus would be the first spacecraft made by a private company to land on the moon. All of the other landers have been part of government missions. SpaceX takes both astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station, but neither that company nor any other has made it to another celestial body intact. Three private companies have tried in recent years: Israel’s Beresheet lander (2019) and Japan’s Hakuto-R (2023) both smashed into the lunar surface, and earlier this year, the Peregrine lander made by American company Astrobiotic suffered a propellant leak and eventually burned up in Earth’s atmosphere.

While collaborations between NASA and private companies aren’t new (in addition to transport services, NASA has long contracted private companies to make space shuttles and rockets), the partnerships involved in the Odysseus mission resemble nesting dolls — inside each piece of equipment is an object made by another entity, indicating how crucial these alliances have become. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket booster launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

That rocket carried a lunar lander made by Intuitive Machines. Inside that lander are six NASA instruments that will harvest data about the nearby environment for use in future lunar missions. Odie is also carrying payloads from private customers, including Columbia Sportswear (what better way to test insulation?) and sculptor Jeff Koons , who created 150 small pieces for his Moon Phases Project , which may soon become the first art on the moon. Also among the interesting cargo is Arch Mission Foundation’s LunaPrise, part of its Lunar Lab Repository project intended to store human knowledge securely forever. (People can submit stories and information , or “Lunagrams,” online).

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 15. (Gregg Newton/AFP via Getty Images)

A successful landing would signify a much-needed win for American space ventures. The U.S. hasn’t landed anything or anyone on the moon in this millennium (the last Apollo mission was in 1972 ). Ironically, neither has Russia; in 2023, Russia's first lunar spacecraft in nearly 50 years crashed into the moon’s surface . China, India and Japan's successful robotic moon landings in the past five years represent a power shift likely to have implications for years, if not decades, to come.

Finally, this mission is an important step in returning humans to the moon. The last human to set foot on the lunar surface, Gene Cernan, did so in 1972. The Apollo program was more about winning the Space Race than establishing a consistent (or even sporadic) presence on the moon. NASA, the only organization to put a person on the moon, is incredibly out of practice. Successful robotic lunar landings are no easy feat, as evidenced by recent failures. NASA can make future landings easier by leveraging Odysseus to gather and transmit topographical and other environmental data back to Earth.

NASA’s Artemis program seeks to return humans — including the first female and the first person of color — to the moon. Artemis III, the first crewed mission, was originally scheduled for late 2025 but has been pushed back to late 2026 . Many believe even that date to be optimistic and consider 2027 a more likely timeframe. Additional failures in lunar spacecraft landings, whether private or national, could highlight concerns or implications that could add more time to these scheduled missions.

Odysseus has sent back its first batch of space selfies from the journey. Soon, those selfies might include images from the moon. If that happens, Odysseus will explore the lunar surface for a week. When the lunar night — a frigid, two-week stretch of darkness — sets in, Odie’s mission will conclude. To learn whether Odie gets that far and what it learns on the moon, we’ll have to watch and wait.

Follow Cognoscenti on Facebook and Instagram .

  • In latest lunar landing trial, Intuitive Machines hopes to get U.S. back to the moon
  • Also by Joelle Renstrom: Artemis finally launched. But we’ll need humility to return to the moon
  • Tim Ritchie: Science and the sacred aren’t in eternal conflict. They are siblings, born of wonder

Headshot of Joelle Renstrom

Joelle Renstrom Cognoscenti contributor Joelle Renstrom is a science writer whose work has appeared in Slate, The Guardian, Aeon, Undark and other publications. She also wrote the essay collection "Closing the Book: Travels in Life, Loss, and Literature." She teaches at Boston University.

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  • How Long Does it Take To Get to the Moon?

The average distance between the Moon and the Earth is 238,857 miles.

For us to fully grasp how long it takes to get to the Moon, it is vital to understand the distance between the Moon and the Earth. The average distance between the Moon and the Earth is 238,857 miles. The figures give the average distance because different variables make the distance between the Earth and the Moon to differ from one phase to another, hence affecting how long it takes to get to the Moon. The Moon naturally orbits the Earth in an elliptical path, because of this, sometimes Moon is closer or farther away from Earth, which in turn greatly affects how long it may take to get to the Moon. Different countries have organized missions and traveled to the Moon and the time taken for all the missions have varied considerably.

Unmanned Missions

These are endeavors to the Moon without the physical presence of people onboard to control the movements of the spacecraft. One of the slowest yet advanced missions to the Moon was by the ESA’s SMART-1 which took the longest time ever recorded of one year, one month and two weeks using an ion-propelled engine. The second unmanned mission was the Chang’e-1 which took five days. Chang’e-2 followed on October 1st, 2010 taking four days and 16 hours before arriving in lunar orbit. The next mission launch took place at the end of 2013 becoming the fastest Change mission arriving in the lunar orbit after only four days and 12 hours and 23 minutes.

Manned Missions

With the presence of people onboard, manned missions have been taking a relatively short time to reach the Moon from the Earth's surface. The Apollo mission is the only Moon mission that was manned with renowned astronauts being the first beings to ever set foot on the lunar surface. The Apollo 11 mission took 51 hours and 49 minutes to arrive on the lunar surface back on July 19th, 1969, hence becoming the fastest spacecraft mission to the Moon that had astronauts who then took 1,376 minutes to return.

Fastest Recorded Missions to Date

NASA’s New Horizons Pluto mission was the fastest ever mission that went past the Moon. With a speedy launch that utilized the advanced technological systems, it took the New Horizon 515 minutes to arrive on the lunar surface before venturing on to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. A mission was in 2014 undertaken using a device called ‘Orion Capsule.' It managed to reach different orbits of the Earth and return in 270 minutes breaking significant records. Through calculations, this showed that the Orion mission could reach the lunar in approximately 12 hours after covering an average distance of 238,857 miles. As plans are underway for the creation of space tourism in future, taking into consideration how long it will take to reach the Moon is vital and the type of technologies that will be utilized to make the journey and experience enjoyable and safe.

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    Artemis I is an important step in NASA's long-term goals for space exploration, paving the way for us to land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon, explore more of the lunar surface than ever before — and prepare to travel on to Mars. This handy travel guide is designed to help everyone from space travel rookies to ...

  10. First commercial Moon mission marks new era for space travel

    Intuitive Machines' Moon lander took off on a Space X rocket. ... It is the first time an American craft has successfully landed on the Moon since 1972 - and the first time ever that a private ...

  11. 50 Years Ago: The Journey to the Moon Begins

    Overnight, Flight Director Glynn S. Lunney's Black Team of controllers, with astronaut Ronald E. Evans as Capcom, watched over the spacecraft's systems. By the time the astronauts awoke, now almost 110,000 miles from Earth, Charlesworth's Green Team was back on console.

  12. How Long Does it Take to Get to The Moon? Distance & Travel Time

    The duration of a journey to the Moon varies according to the following factors: ... Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins travelled to the Moon for the first time. After blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969, the astronauts landed on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969, and the journey took 75 hours and 49 minutes. ...

  13. How We Are Going to the Moon

    How We Are Going to the Moon. Credit. NASA. Language. english. While Apollo placed the first steps on the Moon, Artemis opens the door for humanity to sustainably work and live on another world for the first time. We are returning to the Moon - to stay - and this is how. Discover how NASA is returning humans to the Moon with Artemis.

  14. Apollo 11 Timeline

    On July 20, 1969, a human walked on the Moon for the first time. Relive the full journey to and from the the Moon with this timeline. On July 20, 1969, a human walked on the Moon for the first time. Relive the full journey to and from the the Moon with this timeline. On July 20, 1969, a human walked on the Moon for the first time. Relive the ...

  15. There and Back Again: How NASA's Journey to the Moon Paved a Path Home

    Between that history-making speech and Neil Armstrong's first step on the lunar surface in 1969 is the story of how NASA ensured our voyage to the Moon had a way to get back home. There were almost an infinite number of ways for it all to go wrong, especially during the most dangerous part of the mission - reentering Earth's atmosphere.

  16. How Long Does It Take To Get To The Moon?

    By far, the fastest mission to fly past the Moon was NASA's New Horizons Pluto mission. This mission had a speedy launch, with its Atlas V rocket accelerating it to a a speed of about 16.26 km ...

  17. Journey to the Moon

    The approximately 250,000-mile journey from Earth to the moon took Apollo astronauts about three days. The closest look we've had at the moon came from the launch of NASA's Apollo program in the 1960s. Between 1967 and 1972, a series of missions landed the first men on the moon.

  18. Historic moon landing: Odysseus touches down week after SpaceX launch

    For the first time in more than five decades, Americans have returned to the moon. Well, American robots, at least. A week after launching aboard a SpaceX rocket, the uncrewed Odysseus spacecraft ...

  19. Apollo 11 Moon Landing Timeline: From Liftoff to Splashdown

    Mission Time 00:00:00: Apollo 11 Launches. To overcome the Earth's orbital gravity, NASA required a rocket 100 times more powerful than the Mercury boosters that launched the first American ...

  20. Intuitive Machines Odysseus lands on moon in historic NASA mission

    A U.S. company has gone to the moon - and into the history books. Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission reached the moon's surface on Thursday evening, in the first American lunar landing since the ...

  21. 1969 Moon Landing

    Timeline of the 1969 Moon Landing. At 9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, with the world watching, Apollo 11 took off from Kennedy Space Center with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael ...

  22. How did we get to the Moon?

    By pushing the limits of the most advanced technologies of the time, Nasa achieved President John F Kennedy's 1961 national goal of sending an American to the Moon before the end of the decade. ... Yet for all its limitations, the journey to and from the Moon would have been impossible without the accuracy in navigation and control it ...

  23. Follow CAPSTONE's Four-Month Journey to the Moon in Real Time

    The CAPSTONE spacecraft is digitally rendered in NASA's Eyes on the Solar System interactive app, allowing users to track it in real-time and observe its orbit relative to other space missions and celestial bodies. NASA's microwave oven-sized CubeSat dubbed CAPSTONE is flying solo, blazing an unusual yet efficient deep space route to the Moon.

  24. Why a private mission to the moon is still a win for America

    While seven minutes sounds like a long time to be out of contact with a spacecraft, the past two successful moon landings — India's in 2023 and Japan's earlier this year — involved 18 and ...

  25. From the archives: Apollo 11 begins journey to moon on July 16, 1969

    On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida, carrying three astronauts to the moon. CBS News' Walter Cronkite anchored live television co...

  26. Apollo 11 Moon landing: Everything you need to know

    The mission blasted off on 16 July 1969. It took four days, six hours and 45 minutes to get to the Moon. The lunar module landed on the Moon at 8:17pm on 20 July 1969. By the time the crew landed ...

  27. How Long Does it Take To Get to the Moon?

    With the presence of people onboard, manned missions have been taking a relatively short time to reach the Moon from the Earth's surface. The Apollo mission is the only Moon mission that was manned with renowned astronauts being the first beings to ever set foot on the lunar surface. The Apollo 11 mission took 51 hours and 49 minutes to arrive ...