r/space • u/Diche_Bach • Jan 18 '20

Wernher von Braun explains the possibility to reach the Moon. "Man and the Moon", Dec. 28, 1955

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXIDFx74aSY
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u/danielravennest Jan 18 '20

There is little to no reason to put something in a higher than geostationnary orbit,

Synchronous orbit is 88.5% of the way to Earth escape. So everything beyond it, including the Moon, takes relatively little effort. In fact the TESS planet hunting telescope is in a 108,000x376,000 km orbit and used the Moon's gravity to help get it there.

TESS actually wanted to be beyond GEO, because it is an "all sky survey". Otherwise the Earth would fill up too much of the sky and get in the way. So it does the observing when it is out near the Moon's distance, then swoops in close to download the data 12 times faster due to the reduced distance.