how long does it take to fly to the moon now and how long it can be in the future?
464782
Last time anybody went to the moon in 1972 it took about 3 days to get there.   Today's technology hasn't improved much, so it would take about 3 days now.   Based on technology that we can understand, even if it doesn't yet exist, imagine unlimited engine power.   But don't imagine unlimited acceleration, because we can't stand more than about 2G acceleration for a long period, and we haven't yet got a clue how to accelerate without feeling the effects.   So the fastest we'll get to the Moon any time soon is to accelerate at 2G for the first half of the trip and decelerate at 2G for the rest of the journey.   That would take about 3 hours.
31965
93,000,000 Miles (average)\nand it takes light (average) 8 minutes and 18 seconds to reach earth.
1036837
The shuttle can't go to the moon.  It has never been.  It does not have the rocket energy to break the gravitational pull of the earth and reach a speed of approximately 25,000 mph to leave the earth!\n\nThe Apollo spacecraft would leave the earth at a velocity close to 25,000mph  and rapidly lose speed as they approached the moon.  At a precise point in the trajectory, the earth's gravitational field and the moon's would be equal their speed would be about 3000mph, and after that point, the moon began accelerating them toward itself until they fired the rockets and dropped into a lunar orbit!  The journey from Earth to moon using that method, is about 3 days.\n\nBTW, the max speed of the shuttles in LEO (low earth orbit) has probably never exceeded 18,000mph!  A LEO of 100 miles requires a speed of 17,500mph to stay in that LEO.\n\nAnd to the one that said it would take 10 hours, don't plan on being a physics major!  Leaving the earth's gravitational field is like throwing a rock to infinity.  Once it reaches infinity, the speed is zero.  When it leaves the earth it is doing 25,000mph but rapidly loses speed thereafter departing!
679383
The average distance from the Moon to the Earth is 384,403 kilometers (238,857 miles); it is slowly moving away at about the same rate as your fingernails grow (about 4 cm a year).
1179969
Not soon enough.\nSince there is no Super-power race for space dominance, it comes down to "will it make a profit".  So, when some industry or company decides they can make a few million bucks, it'll happen.  Until then, don't go looking for tickets for the moon shuttle.
36453
The moon is 238,900 miles from the earth.
645338
With or without stopping to ask for directions?\n\nIf the moon is (on average) 185,000 miles away and you drive 70 miles an hour, you'll get there in about 2600 hours, or somewhere around 110 days.\n\nRemember the moon is also moving, so you'll have to aim for the point in space where the moon will be when you get there ... and you'd better be going faster than 70 mph when you get there because the Moon won't wait up -- it's revolving around the Earth much faster than that.
1054714
if we travel at the speed of light, it would take approximately 4.2 years to travel to Proxima Centauri.  Obviuosly, we can't reach that speed.  Space Shuttles can reach a speed of 17,500 mph or 7823.2 m/s.  With this speed, it would take 161059.4 yrs
986807
did you forget space?  we landed on the moon some time ago.. no air on the way there.. \n\nbut thats the one that has to be explored more.. planes that exit the atmosphere and return would be able to fly so much faster.. LA- Tokyo 2 hrs
341431
There are going to be very soon.\nCheck out NAsa.com or search your local news website for future Moon landing and you'll see the progress that we have been making in that aspect.
1155361
For Apollo 15 it was 78 hours and 31 minutes from launch to lunar orbit insertion. That is about three and a quarter days. That was typical for Apollo, a little over 3 days.\n\nThe recent Pluto mission, New Horizons, took about 9 hours to pass the orbit of the Moon. But of course it didn't stop at the Moon. Stopping would have required saving some of the rocket fuel that got it up to speed to slow down again at the Moon, which would have meant a slower trip.
30984
sure, you just have to leave earth.  the acceleration on the moon is about 1.6 m/s^2.  so you'd need to go somewhere slightly larger than the moon, but not quite as large as the moon.  perhaps mars?  aha, on mars it is 3.7 m/s^2.  close enough?\n\nhttp://hypertextbook.com/facts/2004/MichaelRobbins.shtml\nhttp://hypertextbook.com/facts/2004/JahshirahRossi.shtml
78131
Right now there isn't much. The idea of nuclear power for spacecraft isn't too attractive, given the radiation, fallout, and potential mess after an accident. \n\nThe old chemical rockets have experienced an upgrade recently, thanks to the Russian technology of the closed cycle motor. The energy used to run the pumps used to be jettisoned outside the motor bell, but the Russians needed that extra bit of power for their N1 moon ship, and designed the NK33 closed cycle motor. Thankfully, some of the motors survived the cold war, and ended up in the hands of researchers who used them to construct the closed cycle motors that power the Atlas 5. The New Horizons spacecraft rode out on the Atlas 5, which was the fastest launch in history. The Apollo ships took three days to cover the distance between Earth and Moon; New Horizons did it in 9 hours. That's an improvement.
55
Virgin Galactic is offering this "as soon as 2008" for the low price of 100 million USD.  Realistically, it will probably take more than a few years to ramp up tourist missions to the moon, especially if no one is signing up...
895439
Depends if china can make it there. I dont think any country can controll the moon.  The moon will end up being indepent of it self, just like the americas are today.
1170673
The Apollo missions that had to get to the moon had to hit 25,000 to get out of Earth orbit and for certain maneuvers around the moon. The space shuttle and/or ISS orbits the Earth at speeds between 17,000MPH and 18,000 MPH.\n\nUnmanned Spaceborn:\nHelios probes orbiting the sun hit 252,800 km/h in 1974.\n\nManned Airborn:\nOct. 3, 1967, the X-15A-2, piloted by Major William J. Pete' Knight, went Mach 6.7 (4,520 m.p.h.) above the Mojave Desert. Record stood until broken by the Space Shuttle in 1980. Highest altitude reached by X-15A was 354,200 ft.\n\nThe fastest air-breathing, manned vehicle, the SR-71, achieved slightly more than Mach 3 back in 1964. Chuck Yeager hit Mach 1 in 1947 with the X-1.\n\nUnmanned Airborn:\nRecently the unmanned speed record (in proximity to the earth anyway) was broken. The X43A hit Mach 9.6+. Scramjets are thought to be capable of hitting Mach 15+.\nexternal link\n\nManned Ground:\nMach 1.016 in the "ThrustSSC" by Andy Green in 1997.\nexternal link\n\nUnmanned Ground:\nA rocket sled hit Mach 8.5 (unmanned)
1082872
The sky's the limit!  Sorry, couldn't resist.\n\nIt really depends on what advances are made in physics and technology.  Right now it looks like it would be very unlikely that man will ever leave the solar system.  The reason for that is because it takes so much energy to push a craft at the speeds necessary to get anywhere in a decent amount of time.  NASA recently launched a tiny, little probe to Pluto, which will take 10 years to arrive.  To send a crew of people that far, a much larger craft would be needed to support the life systems, which means far more energy would be required to push it.  The energy source would further increase the mass of the craft and increase the energy requirements, etc.\n\nI think our best bet with "conventional" technology would be to send a suicide mission to Alpha Centauri (the next-nearest star).  I don't know what the point would be of sending humans there, but it could be done over a period of maybe 100 years.  The original astronauts might not make it, but they could have children or grandchildren during the voyage who could reach the star.\n\nIf scientists ever figure out how to create and travel through wormholes or other theoretical means, then there's really no limit to how far we can go.