How long would it take to get to Mars?
6.9 yearsby jet, without stopping
Mars comes within 55 million km of Earth at closest approach. In a straight line at airliner speed that's 6.9 years of continuous flight. The fastest spacecraft ever launched would need 39 days.
▶ See how far Mars really is
The honest timetable
Family car (100 km/h)
62 years
Jet airliner (900 km/h)
6.9 years
New Horizons — fastest launch ever (58,500 km/h)
39 days
Light (299,792 km/s)
3.0 minutes
Those are straight-line times at the moment of closest approach — the absolute best case. Real spacecraft can't fly straight there: they follow long curved transfer orbits, sling around planets for free speed, and have to slow down at the other end. Real Mars missions take about seven months — Perseverance flew for 203 days in 2020–21.
Olympus Mons rises ~22 km — about 2.5× Everest — on a planet half Earth’s width with a third of its gravity.
See the gap for yourself: open Mars in the interactive view, switch to 1:1 scale, and try to find Earth from there.
Keep going
✓ Facts verified July 2026
Every figure on this page is a real, rounded value checked against primary sources. Found something out of date? See how we keep it accurate.