Joe is Vanguard's global chief economist and head of Vanguard Investment Strategy Group. He's also a member of the senior portfolio management team in Vanguard Fixed Income Group.
Apollo missions took about three days to reach the moon. But the quickest trip to the moon was the New Horizons probe, which zipped past the moon in just 8 hours 35 minutes on its way to Pluto. However, the spacecraft didn't even slow down or approach lunar orbit. Tidal forces.
It launched on January 19, 2006 and passed the orbit of Saturn on June 8, 2008. It completed this journey in just 2 years and 4 months. Just in case you were wondering, here's how long it takes to fly to Mars, and how long it takes to get to the Moon.