Explainer · travel time
About seven months. The 22 spacecraft in our table took 131 to 333 days to reach Mars, and half of them took 209 days or fewer. NASA’s Perseverance took 203 days, from Jul 30, 2020 to Feb 18, 2021.
Updated Sources (29)
It depends on when you leave and how much fuel you can burn. Spacecraft don’t fly straight at Mars: they coast around the Sun on a curved path, timed so that Mars arrives at the same spot. Using the least fuel, that trip takes about 259 days.[1]
Real missions have taken between 131 and 333 days, and half of the 22 in the table below took 209 days or fewer. NASA says the trip “generally takes somewhere between seven to ten months, flying a relatively direct route.”[3] NASA’s Perseverance rover took 203 days and flew 472 million km (293 million miles) to get there.[14]
Earth and Mars line up for an efficient trip only about once every 26 months,[2] during a Launch windowA launch window is the stretch of time, about every 26 months, when Earth and Mars line up so a spacecraft can reach Mars using the least fuel.More in the glossary. Missions leave when Mars is about 44° ahead of Earth (the Phase angleHere, the phase angle is how far ahead of Earth Mars sits in its orbit, seen from the Sun; trips to Mars work best when it is about 44°.More in the glossary) and coast half an orbit around the Sun, meeting Mars on the far side.[1]
Orbits to scale; the path is illustrative. Scroll to fly it (the rocket stays still if you’ve asked for less motion).
Not every mission flies the same way. India’s Mangalyaan spent its first weeks in orbit around Earth, raising its orbit with six engine burns before heading out.[8] NASA’s ESCAPADE launched in November 2025 and waits near Earth until November 2026, when NASA expects it to swing past Earth and head for Mars on a 10-month cruise.[24]
When the next launch window opensFrom launch to the day each spacecraft first reached Mars: flying past, entering orbit or landing. Perseverance is highlighted.[4][5]
| Mission | Launched | Reached Mars | Days to Mars |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mariner 4NASANov 28, 1964 → Jul 15, 1965 | flew past | ||
| Mariner 6NASAFeb 25, 1969 → Jul 31, 1969 | flew past | ||
| Mariner 7NASAMar 27, 1969 → Aug 5, 1969 | flew past | ||
| Mariner 9NASAMay 30, 1971 → Nov 14, 1971 | entered orbit | ||
| Viking 1NASAAug 20, 1975 → Jun 19, 1976 | entered orbit | landed after 335 days | |
| Viking 2NASASep 9, 1975 → Aug 7, 1976 | entered orbit | landed after 360 days | |
| Mars Global SurveyorNASANov 7, 1996 → Sep 12, 1997 | entered orbit | ||
| Mars PathfinderNASADec 4, 1996 → Jul 4, 1997 | landed | ||
| Mars OdysseyNASAApr 7, 2001 → Oct 24, 2001 | entered orbit | ||
| Mars ExpressEurope (ESA)Jun 2, 2003 → Dec 25, 2003 | entered orbit | ||
| SpiritNASAJun 10, 2003 → Jan 4, 2004 | landed | ||
| OpportunityNASAJul 8, 2003 → Jan 25, 2004 | landed | ||
| Mars Reconnaissance OrbiterNASAAug 12, 2005 → Mar 10, 2006 | entered orbit | ||
| PhoenixNASAAug 4, 2007 → May 25, 2008 | landed | ||
| CuriosityNASANov 26, 2011 → Aug 6, 2012 | landed | ||
| MangalyaanIndia (ISRO)Nov 5, 2013 → Sep 24, 2014 | entered orbit | includes about 25 days in Earth orbit | |
| MAVENNASANov 18, 2013 → Sep 22, 2014 | entered orbit | ||
| Trace Gas OrbiterEurope (ESA)Mar 14, 2016 → Oct 19, 2016 | entered orbit | ||
| InSightNASAMay 5, 2018 → Nov 26, 2018 | landed | ||
| HopeUAEJul 19, 2020 → Feb 9, 2021 | entered orbit | ||
| Tianwen-1China (CNSA)Jul 23, 2020 → Feb 10, 2021 | entered orbit | landed after 295 days | |
| PerseveranceNASAJul 30, 2020 → Feb 18, 2021 | landed |
To first arrivalOn to landing, for orbiter–lander pairsDays between UTC launch and arrival dates. NASA’s catalog gives Mariner 9 as 167 days.
Launch and arrival dates from NASA’s NSSDCA catalog, ESA, ISRO, CNSA and, for Hope, the Dubai Media Office and Spaceflight Now.[4][6][7][9][10][11][12][13][27] ISRO describes Mangalyaan’s trip as “300 days of interplanetary journey”.[26] Zhurong touched down late on May 14, 2021 in UTC, which was already May 15 in Beijing.[28][10] MAVEN arrived “after a 10-month journey”, NASA said.[15]
Possibly, with new engines, but nothing faster is flying yet. Here is who has said what, and what has actually happened. Confirmed facts have a solid outline; claims and targets are dashed.
Nuclear rockets could shorten the trip
“The technology can decrease trip time, increase payload mass at the destination, and enable abort scenarios”
NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate · Space Nuclear Propulsion
The nuclear-rocket test, DRACO, was dropped
“As the launch costs came down, the efficiency gain from nuclear thermal propulsion … started to look like less and less of a positive ROI.”
Rob McHenry, DARPA deputy director, at a Mitchell Institute event, as reported by Breaking Defense · DARPA’s DRACO nuclear propulsion project roars no more
A nuclear-powered spacecraft, SR-1 Freedom
“NASA will launch the Space Reactor‑1 Freedom, the first nuclear powered interplanetary spacecraft, to Mars before the end of 2028”
NASA news release · NASA Unveils Initiatives to Achieve America’s National Space Policy
Starship: about six months
“It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six month trip time)”
Elon Musk on X, as quoted by Fox Business · Musk says SpaceX shifting focus to ‘self-growing city’ on moon before Mars push
An independent study published in Scientific Reports in May 2025, not by SpaceX, found two Starship trajectories that would take 90 to 104 days each way.[23]
You may see “80 days” quoted as Elon Musk’s figure for a fast trip. We couldn’t find his own words for it, so we don’t use it.
A crew can’t simply turn around: after arriving they wait on Mars until the planets line up again. NASA says astronauts bound for Mars would be leaving Earth for roughly three years.[16] NASA’s 2009 reference plan breaks the trip down like this:[17]
NASA’s planners have also studied faster round trips of about two years in all, which is why both “two years” and “three years” turn up in NASA’s material.[18]
When will humans land on Mars?About seven months on a typical trip. Real missions have taken 131 to 333 days, and half took 209 days or fewer. The most fuel-efficient path takes about 259 days.
203 days. It launched on Jul 30, 2020 and landed on Feb 18, 2021, after a 472-million-km (293-million-mile) journey, NASA says.
Because spacecraft coast around the Sun instead of flying straight. Earth and Mars both move, so the cheapest route is a curved path that meets Mars where it will be months later, and the planets line up for it only about every 26 months.
About six months each way in NASA’s 2009 reference plan, with about 500 days on Mars. NASA says a crew would be away from Earth for roughly three years in all.
No Starship has flown to Mars yet. Elon Musk wrote in February 2026 that the trip takes about six months. An independent study published in 2025 found that 90 to 104 days each way could be possible.
Mariner 7, which flew past Mars 131 days after launch in 1969. The fastest into orbit was Mariner 9, in 1971: 168 days by UTC dates (NASA’s catalogue says 167).
Now. NASA’s lowest-energy day to leave in this launch window is Oct 31, 2026: Japan’s MMX is scheduled to launch on Oct 19, 2026 (UTC) and NASA’s ESCAPADE is due to leave for Mars in November 2026. In the next window, it’s Dec 2, 2028.