How did we land back on earth from the moon

933 viewsOtherPlanetary Science

Wouldn’t when we land on the moon, the earth would still be in motion bc of the orbit, and so whenever we exit the orbit of the moon (Which was orbiting the earth) the earth would still be in a constant orbit moving at high speeds, how did we calculate and intercept earth in said orbit.

In: Planetary Science

15 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The moon is in freefall over the earth, and moving laterally enough that it doesn’t actually get any closer, i.e. – it’s in orbit. In order for something to get to earth from the moon, it needs to lose most of that speed, so that it can fall down to earth. So the rocket orbiting the moon needed to use fuel to thrust in the opposite direction that the moon was traveling in, to shed speed and let earth’s gravity pull it back down.

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