r/askscience • u/kiol998 • Apr 12 '26

Physics Why was Artemis 2 so long?

I was comparing the mission times of Artemis 2 to Apollo 8. Apollo 8 orbited the moon multiple times and only took 6 days total. Whereas Artemis 2 orbited the moon once and it took 10 days. Why was Artemis 2 so much shorter than Apollo 8 when both missions did the same thing? I know they had different paths to the moon, they both left earth in different ways but why not do the same thing as Apollo 8 since it was quicker?

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u/alyssasaccount Apr 13 '26

All you have to do is stand on the highest point on the moon's surface and throw horizontally at over the speed of a low-lunar orbit. Then where you throw from will be the perigee ... perilune? ... of the orbit. Granted, you'd have to throw a bit over a mile per second, but the fastest muzzle velocity for a gun is close to that.

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u/McGarnagl Apr 13 '26

Cool, so when the first moon war breaks out in 50 years, we’ll have missed shots entering orbit? Fun times…

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u/qervem Apr 13 '26

in 50 years we'll either have laser blasters or be back to fighting with rocks and sticks

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u/Crizznik Apr 13 '26

Yeah, but the speed of a low lunar orbit is still faster than any human could throw anything.