What kind of physics is happening inside a black hole? Once you fall into a black hole, there’s no coming back. These measurements would then be transmitted back to Earth before the black hole inevitably eats up the spacecraft. Norte sees no reason that they couldn’t be applied to other missions as well, although he says that this black hole mission would have its own unique challenges. To do that, the craft would need to target a black hole just 20 to 25 light-years away from Earth—but the current closest black hole to Earth that we’ve observed is 1,560 light-years away.