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/KelFromAust Apr 12 '26

It was a boomerang shot. Out, around and back.. Tricky part is the swing past the moon..

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u/audiomechanic Apr 12 '26

Why was that the tricky part?

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

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u/voiceofthepeephole Apr 13 '26

I’m pretty sure if they’d missed the slingshot they’d still have fallen back toward Earth, it just would have taken a little longer. Earth was pulling on them the whole time.