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.
The shortest trip to the Moon took place in January 2006 by the NASA Pluto probe New Horizons. With the speed of 58,000 km/hr, it only took 8 hours and 35 minutes to get to the Moon from Earth. The longest trip took place in 2003 by the ESA SMART-1 lunar probe. It took 1 year and 6 weeks because it used ion engine which was very fuel efficient.