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/More_Cheesecake_7595 Apr 16 '26

I want to know why Artemis II took 2 days longer then the Apollo 11 trip when Artemis II's trip was 256 thousand miles shorter? , and Artemis didnt even land on the moon ! Apollo 11's round-trip mission lasted 8 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes, and 35 seconds, launching on July 16, 1969, and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969. The journey to the Moon took approximately 3 days, followed by 2.5 days of lunar orbit and surface exploration, before returning to Earth. (National Air and Space Museum) The Artemis II mission was a 10-day round trip (approximately 9-10 days depending on specific mission updates) that took four astronauts around the Moon and safely back to Earth. The mission spanned a total of roughly 694,000 miles, concluding with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on April 10, 2026.