To the stars on our own shoulders: the way to the Moon

The journey to this silvery disc in the night sky has always mesmerized humanity. And so I wondered - how long does it actually take to fly there? It turns out, everything is far from being as simple as it may seem.

The distance to our satellite is 384,400 kilometers. It may seem trivial by cosmic standards, but in practice, the journey can take anywhere from 8 hours to a full 4.5 months! And this is no joke.

The fastest was the American probe "New Horizons", which flew past the Moon in just 8 hours and 35 minutes. But it was in a hurry to get to Pluto; the Moon was just a fleeting encounter for it.

Here is our Soviet "Luna-1" which took 34 hours to reach its destination in 1959, and it even missed, flying past the target by 5995 km. Typical Soviet style, right? But they were the first. In the end, the poor thing drained its batteries and now drifts endlessly in the cosmic void.

The famous "Apollo 11" with Americans on board dragged on for as long as 109 hours before Armstrong took his "small step". Indeed small, considering how much money was wasted on this.

In 2019, the Israelis with their "Beresheet" decided to save on fuel. As a result, they drifted around the Earth for six weeks, gaining speed, and then dramatically crashed onto the lunar surface, scattering thousands of tardigrades. Well done, at least they delivered some microfauna!

But the longest journey was made by the American CAPSTONE - a whole 4.5 months! The small 25-kilogram cube circled the Earth several times before reaching its destination. Like a turtle, I swear!

A flight to the Moon is a terrible waste of fuel. 60-90% of the launch weight of any mission is fuel, most of which is used just to break free from the Earth. Our gravity, like a greedy mother-in-law, does not want to let go.

Ultimately, the flight time depends on many factors: the available rockets, their power, the size of the ship, and the mission objectives. Engineers calculate every gram, every liter of fuel, every second. One wrong decision - and your ship either crashes back down or flies off to hell.

And yet we continue to strive for the Moon. Despite all the difficulties, costs, and risks. Perhaps this is the true human nature - to constantly reach for what seems unattainable, even if it takes months of flight and billions of dollars.