By submitting my Email address I confirm that I have read and accepted the Terms of Use and Declaration of Consent. 1  By submitting your personal information, you agree that TechTarget and its partners may contact you regarding relevant content, products and special offers.
The distance of a light year. How long would it take the space shuttle to go one light-year? The shuttle orbits the Earth at about 5 miles per second (18,000 mph). Light travels at 186,000 miles per second, which is about 37,200 times faster than the shuttle. So the shuttle would need about 37,200 years to go one light-year.
At this speed it would only take around 172000 years. Even travelling near the speed of light it would take at least 40 years to get there! If it was even easy to get near the speed of light; the amount of fuel needed would be enormous! The fuel would also add to the mass that you need to accelerate making it more difficult.