[ELI5] Why do rockets have to go around in orbit and do a bunch of squiggly maneuvers to get to the moon? Why cant they just go in a straight line?

Question

And by straight, i mean, just… Point the nose of the rocket towards the moon and keep steering till you get there….

In: Physics

Answer 1

Pointing directly toward the moon and turning as the moon orbits would use soooooooo much fuel. There is no drag in space, so if you can accelerate in a way that gets you to where the moon will be by the time you get there, you can turn the engine off and just wait.

Also there are no squiggly maneuvers, I’m not sure what you mean. The process to get to the moon is

1. Orbit Earth

1. Accelerate away from earth at the right time so that you go where the moon will be

1. face backwards and “accelerate” to slow down so that you orbit the moon instead of shooting past it.

[Here’s a gif](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/AbandonedPassionateJunebug-size_restricted.gif)