Item — HN Reader

I'm saying sort of the opposite - there have been very, very rare cases where satellites in LEO were visited by humans and repaired or retrieved, but it's extremely uneconomical (Hubble, LDEF, etc). Actually cheaper to build and launch a new one. But at least it is technologically possible. Whereas nobody has ever gone to geostationary orbit.

There have been proposals for ion engined orbital tugs to grab onto old, out-of-stationkeeping-propellant satellites that still have good electronics, for the purpose of extending their life, or moving them to a new orbital position. But nothing has actually flown.

1 comments

The moon is beyond geostationary orbit, and I think we've been there ;-)

Particularly, if you don't want to land on the Moon, just go round it and return, then it's easier - you don't need that much propulsion to get back.

But to get to geostationary orbit and stop there, you need rocket power. To get back, you would also need power.

We've been to the moon but humans have never put a manned craft in geostationary orbit, or returned from it - the delta-V requirements are different.

Right, OP wasn't saying that we had never been _beyond_ GEO, but never been to the orbit - going through is a lot easier than stopping off partway.