But, what about manned missions? How fast can we travel with humans on board? The answer is, not as fast as the Helios 2, unfortunately. The fastest manned spacecraft, Apollo 11, reached speeds of up to 25,000 miles per hour during its mission to the moon.
That's still pretty fast, but it's not like we're talking about lightspeed or anything... yet! Scientists are working on new propulsion systems that could potentially get us to Mars and beyond much faster. Imagine being able to explore the Red Planet in just a few months instead of years!
One of the quirks of space travel is that gravity affects our speed. Yeah, you read that right! The closer we are to a massive object, like a planet or moon, the slower we go. It's like trying to drive a car through molasses. But, once we break free from gravity's pull, we can pick up some serious speed.
