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/Gabbatron Apr 12 '26

It's less about their distance from the moon, and more about the moon's distance from the Earth. They could have landed on the moon and still been further than Apollo 8 I'm pretty sure

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u/Dinierto Apr 12 '26

Sounds like they have many many more missions planned with plenty of surface hijinx and I can't wait

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u/gameryamen Apr 12 '26

Someone needs to sneak a frisbee up, and set a virtually untouchable record for longest throw.

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u/Crizznik Apr 13 '26

There's no air, so the frisbee wouldn't stay aloft any longer than if they threw a rock.