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Going to the Moon
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Trip to the Moon
In order to take a trip to the moon, you must follow these steps.
- The space ship must lift off from the earth surface and climb to a circular parking orbit, usually in LEO, with low inclination.
- Once in space, the ship must wait in parking orbit until the moon and ship are lined up appropriately.
- Once lined up, the ship fire its engine(s) so as to accelerate to a velocity that will result in an elliptical orbit with the apoapse at about 384000km away from earth, the earth-moon distance. This maneuver is called a Hohmann transfer orbit.
- Midway through the maneuver, a course correction should be performed. As we approach the moon, it becomes increasingly easier to predict our exact arrival path.
- Once the ship in close enough to the moon, it must then fire its engines in order to slow down. Slowing down will have effect of making the large elliptic orbit shrink into a smaller circular one, with the moon at its focus.
- Once the orbit is completely circularized, the one way trip is complete, the ship is at the moon.
