<p>Some trajectories need less energy than others, so to save on fuel, scientists often choose the lengthy, fuel efficient journey rather than a shorter one. In the case of the Apollo astronauts, it was important to get them to the moon in the shortest possible time, so a short trajectory was chosen.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-03T08:37:17.327Z
2019-07-03T08:37:17.327Z
Michael Walsby
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/E40Dt.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/E40Dt.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>India is going to launch a spacecraft to the moon on 16 July which will consist of a lander, an orbiter and a rover. I found an article in today's newspaper regarding   this. If you zoom in a bit, you will be able to see the list of other lunar missions that have taken place over the years. A common difference that I found in lunar missions of 20th century and lunar missions of 21st century was the time. Earlier, the spacecrafts reached moon in a day or two but recent missions take over 2 months. </p>

<p>With developed technology, it should take even less time, but it's the other way round. Can anyone explain the reason behind this.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-03T05:56:07.617Z
Welcome! This is more of a [space.se] question than an Astronomy one.
Glorfindel
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-03T05:57:38.943Z
Times of India [article online](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/why-the-world-keeps-returning-to-chandamama/articleshow/70033479.cms)
Mike G
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-04T07:43:10.533Z
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not about Astronomy as defined in the [help center](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic). I would recommend that you ask in [Space Exploration SE](https://space.stackexchange.com/) except that you have already [posted the question there](https://space.stackexchange.com/q/37083/12102) as well and hopefully it will be re-opened soon. For future reference, cross-posting the same question in multiple SE sites is strongly discouraged.
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-04T07:46:04.607Z
@uhoh I initially posted the question here as I didn't know that there was a stack exchange site specifically for space exploration. Thanks for your help though.
Aditya Jain
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-04T08:00:34.320Z
Sure, Stack Exchange runs a bit differently than most other Q&A sites, it takes a while to get used to its idiosyncrasies.
uhoh
<moonlanding>
Time taken for journey to the moon
Aditya Jain
# Time taken for journey to the moon

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-07-03)

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/E40Dt.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/E40Dt.jpg)

India is going to launch a spacecraft to the moon on 16 July which will consist of a lander, an orbiter and a rover. I found an article in today's newspaper regarding this. If you zoom in a bit, you will be able to see the list of other lunar missions that have taken place over the years. A common difference that I found in lunar missions of 20th century and lunar missions of 21st century was the time. Earlier, the spacecrafts reached moon in a day or two but recent missions take over 2 months.

With developed technology, it should take even less time, but it's the other way round. Can anyone explain the reason behind this.

**Tags:** moonlanding
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome! This is more of a [space.se] question than an Astronomy one.  
> **username_2**: Times of India [article online](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/why-the-world-keeps-returning-to-chandamama/articleshow/70033479.cms)  
> **username_3**: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not about Astronomy as defined in the [help center](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic). I would recommend that you ask in [Space Exploration SE](https://space.stackexchange.com/) except that you have already [posted the question there](https://space.stackexchange.com/q/37083/12102) as well and hopefully it will be re-opened soon. For future reference, cross-posting the same question in multiple SE sites is strongly discouraged.  
> **username_0**: @uhoh I initially posted the question here as I didn't know that there was a stack exchange site specifically for space exploration. Thanks for your help though.  
> **username_3**: Sure, Stack Exchange runs a bit differently than most other Q&A sites, it takes a while to get used to its idiosyncrasies.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2019-07-03. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

Some trajectories need less energy than others, so to save on fuel, scientists often choose the lengthy, fuel efficient journey rather than a shorter one. In the case of the Apollo astronauts, it was important to get them to the moon in the shortest possible time, so a short trajectory was chosen.


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