Outbound

Every journey to the planets starts here, fighting the same hill: to leave Earth for good, a rocket has to reach escape velocity — about 25,000 mph, fast enough to cross the United States in seven minutes.

The Moon

Three days out at Apollo speeds — and one lap around for the view. The Moon is drifting away from us about 1.5 inches per year, and the bootprints left in 1969 are still there: with no wind or rain, they could last a million years.

Mars

The red planet hits the atmosphere hard: probes arrive at around 13,000 mph and must brake to walking pace in seven minutes. Mars is home to Olympus Mons, a volcano nearly three times the height of Everest.

Jupiter

Big enough to swallow 1,300 Earths. The Great Red Spot is a storm wider than our whole planet that has raged for at least 190 years, with winds whipping around its edge at over 400 mph.

Saturn

The rings stretch 175,000 miles across but are often less than 100 feet thick — proportionally thinner than a sheet of paper. Saturn itself is so light it would float in a big enough bathtub.

Neptune

The windiest place in the solar system: supersonic gusts top 1,200 mph with almost no sunlight to power them. Voyager 2 took twelve years to get here — and it's still the only spacecraft that ever has.