Ask an Explainer
Q:
What is the speed that a spacecraft has to reach before it escapes the Earth's gravitational field and is able to travel to the moon or elsewhere?
A:
The escape velocity for the Earth is about 11 km/s (7 mi/s) or 39,500 kph (25,000 mph). The spacecraft can then travel beyond Earth orbit to places like our moon. Other planets, moons, and stars have their own escape velocities depending on their mass.
Posted on May 31, 2016 at 8:13 am
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