Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Letter: Intersecting orbits

Published 21 February 2004

From John Haworth

In writing about an Apollo lunar mission Phil Scott says, “the third stage then ignited and propelled the cargo…out of Earth orbit and onto a trajectory towards the moon” (31 January, p 26). But to conform to gravitational theory, it isn’t propelled “out of Earth orbit”. Instead, it changes to a different gravitational Earth orbit that intersects with the moon’s orbit.

Exeter, Devon, UK

Issue no. 2435 published 21 February 2004

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