Peter Hague emphasizes Artemis II’s distance and trajectory mechanics, noting the mission won’t land but travels far beyond ISS orbit and referencing historic free-return lunar flight paths.
Properly scaled diagram of the journey of Artemis II.
No, the mission won’t land, but it will be going a tremendous distance from Earth.
Free return trajectories were first used for lunar flight in 1968
When a spacecraft leaves Earth, it doesn’t just fire its engines and head straight to its destination.
In many missions, especially those going beyond low Earth orbit, there’s a more subtle and elegant strategy at play, one that uses gravity itself as part of the navigation
Free return trajectories were first used for lunar flight in 1968, 47 years before KSP was released
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