NASA's Artemis II Crew Launches To The Moon

[SeaMajor7]

Yeah, so four astronauts just launched from Florida in an amazing fete of Human achievement.
Launching from Earth to go "fly" around the Moon and come back safely in a ten-day mission.
No-one seems to care, but godspeed Artemis II

 

[Darkwind]

It was a good launch. I'm still watching it. They are about to do a burn to insert into orbit, and after that, they'll do an increased perigee burn.

 

[ThisIsMe]

Yeah, so four astronauts just launched from Florida in an amazing fete of Human achievement.
Launching from Earth to go "fly" around the Moon and come back safely in a ten-day mission.
No-one seems to care, but godspeed Artemis II

Ironic that this happened and a week ago I started watching the “for all mankind” series on Apple TV. Pretty good show

 

[Manonthestreet]

About time

 

[Lockback]

Beautiful launch. May God be with them on this journey.

I have a question, though.
Why is this journey taking 6 days to the moon?
I remember back in Apollo days it took 3 days?

 

[Darkwind]

Beautiful launch. May God be with them on this journey.

I have a question, though.
Why is this journey taking 6 days to the moon?
I remember back in Apollo days it took 3 days?

How long did it take the astronauts to fly to and return from the moon? 1972 era​

For the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, the trip from Earth launch to splashdown took about 12 days, 13 hours, 52 minutes total.

If you mean just the outbound trip to the Moon, Apollo 11 took about 4 days, 7 hours from launch to lunar landing, and Apollo 17 was in the same general range for the transit to the Moon.

 

[ThisIsMe]

Beautiful launch. May God be with them on this journey.

I have a question, though.
Why is this journey taking 6 days to the moon?
I remember back in Apollo days it took 3 days?

The new rocket was part of the democrat EV mandate, so they have to stop at a charging station along the way to recharge their rocket…

 

[SeaMajor7]

The trajectory of their orbit(s) around the Moon will be the furthest any Humans have ventured from the Earth.
Amazing!

 

[Lockback]

The new rocket was part of the democrat EV mandate, so they have to stop at a charging station along the way to recharge their rocket…

That made me LOL!

 

[Lockback]

See, my memory's not totally shot:

Apollo 11 took about 3 days (roughly 75–76 hours) to travel from Earth launch to entering lunar orbit, with the lunar module landing on the Moon about 4 days after liftoff.

Here's the key timeline (all times in UTC):

• Launch: July 16, 1969, at 13:32 UTC (from Kennedy Space Center, Florida).
• Translunar injection (leaving Earth orbit toward the Moon): About 3 hours after launch.
• Lunar orbit insertion: July 19, 1969, at around 17:21–17:44 UTC — that's approximately 75 hours and 50 minutes after launch (just shy of 76 hours, or a little over 3 days).
• Lunar module (Eagle) landing on the Moon's surface (Sea of Tranquility): July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC — roughly 4 days and 6–7 hours after launch.

Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface about 6.5 hours after the landing (around 109 hours after launch total).

Why it took ~3 days​

The spacecraft didn't fly in a straight line at constant speed. It followed a curved, energy-efficient trajectory:

• It started with a powerful boost from the Saturn V rocket to escape Earth's gravity.
• Speed gradually slowed as it coasted farther from Earth (gravity's pull weakens with distance).
• Mid-course corrections were made, and it entered the Moon's gravitational influence before slowing further to be captured into lunar orbit.

A direct, faster path would have required much more fuel and a more powerful rocket—impractical for the technology at the time. Modern uncrewed missions can sometimes take longer or shorter depending on the trajectory, but Apollo's ~3-day coast was typical for crewed missions to allow safe navigation and systems checks.

The full round-trip mission lasted 8 days, 3 hours, and 18 minutes, ending with splashdown on July 24, 1969.

This remains one of the most remarkable engineering feats in history!

 

[Darkwind]

They are showing some seriously good replays.

 

[Captain Creeper]

Beautiful launch. May God be with them on this journey.

I have a question, though.
Why is this journey taking 6 days to the moon?
I remember back in Apollo days it took 3 days?

44,000 miles

 

[Crepitus]

Yeah, so four astronauts just launched from Florida in an amazing fete of Human achievement.
Launching from Earth to go "fly" around the Moon and come back safely in a ten-day mission.
No-one seems to care, but godspeed Artemis II

I care.

 

[Darkwind]

These guys are just geeking the **** out.

 

[drudge X]

Beautiful launch. May God be with them on this journey.

I have a question, though.
Why is this journey taking 6 days to the moon?
I remember back in Apollo days it took 3 days?

Fuel is expensive I guess. Using earth and moon’s gravity as slingshot saves fuel. SpaceX may invent a rocket engine using a nuclear reactor. I believe the Cassini probe launched during the 90s was using plutonium for fuel given the distance to Saturn. It too relied on slingshot method to get there faster.

 

[Lockback]

Fuel is expensive I guess. Using earth and moon’s gravity as slingshot saves fuel. SpaceX may invent a rocket engine using a nuclear reactor. I believe the Cassini probe launched during the 90s was using plutonium for fuel given the distance to Saturn. It too relied on slingshot method to get there faster.

Yeah, that makes total sense.

 

[egp320i]

Yeah, so four astronauts just launched from Florida in an amazing fete of Human achievement.
Launching from Earth to go "fly" around the Moon and come back safely in a ten-day mission.
No-one seems to care, but godspeed Artemis II

not to the moon, to around the moon, they won't be landing from what I read

 

[drudge X]

not to the moon, to around the moon, they won't be landing from what I read

Yep, no landing at all. The probe is flying around earth for one day to gain momentum. When it gets to the moon, it will use the moon’s gravity and slingshot back to earth.

 

[SeaMajor7]

not to the moon, to around the moon, they won't be landing from what I read

Thanks, Captain Obvious.

 

[Robert W]

Yeah, so four astronauts just launched from Florida in an amazing fete of Human achievement.
Launching from Earth to go "fly" around the Moon and come back safely in a ten-day mission.
No-one seems to care, but godspeed Artemis II

I truly appreciate space missions. But this reminds me of going to a nascar race to watch the cars warm, up. The mission when they return to the moon and walk on it will really excite me as it did when the others walked on the moon.