What is the escape velocity of the Moon in kilometers per second?

The Moon's escape velocity is approximately 2.38 kilometers per second.

Escape velocity is the minimum speed an object would need at the lunar surface to escape the Moon's gravity without further propulsion, assuming an idealized launch and ignoring other bodies. It is calculated from the body's mass and radius using the relationship v = √(2GM/r).

The lunar value is much lower than Earth's escape velocity of about 11.2 km/s because the Moon is far less massive. Its surface gravity is only about 1.62 m/s², roughly one-sixth of Earth's, although escape velocity depends on both gravity and the body's radius.

The figure does not mean a spacecraft must instantly accelerate to 2.38 km/s during a real departure. Rockets build speed over time, and a spacecraft already in a low lunar orbit needs only the appropriate additional change in velocity. The 1.62 km/s option is the Moon's surface gravitational acceleration in m/s², not its escape velocity; 7.9 km/s is close to low-Earth-orbit speed.