translunar

After the spacecraft orbited the Earth for about 10 days, it was sent into the translunar orbit last Tuesday and successfully injected into the lunar orbit on Saturday.

After the spacecraft orbited the Earth for more than a week, it was sent into the translunar orbit on Tuesday through a slingshot manoeuvre.

During the moments showing the translunar injection maneuver — the propulsive push that sent Apollo 11 toward the moon — Miller used a shot from Apollo 8.

Lunar Prospector’s translunar injection module had a titanium case, whereas a similar module on another leading candidate, Japan’s Nozomi Mars probe, had a case made from carbon fibre.

We similarly understood the physics of orbital and translunar flight; we just had to master them.