Ben HoustonThe flight of NASA's Artemis (purple) uses two very close encounters with the moon's gravity (green) to changes its trajectory to get back to the earth (blue.) Amazing.
More details: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-1
Simon Jackman@BenHouston3D in awe of the orbital mechanics at work here and the computation that must lie behind it. Did any of the Apollo missions employ moves like this?
Blippy the Wonder Slug (MOVED)@simonjackman @BenHouston3D Kinda, but no. There were animations used in broadcasts, but in those days, there was very little animation software available for the mainframes folks used (minis were just becoming a thing, and PCs were still under the horizon), and the animations were crude by today's standards. It had improved somewhat by the mid 70s, but there was little viewer demand for the later missions, when it had become "old hat."