No weight in space
Not true, the fact that your going the same speed as the capsule/space station/satellite in orbit means that your going 17,500 MPH in one direction, but the Earth's gravity is trying to pull you down, but the speed your going prevents this, if you suddenly stopped moving at 17,500 MPH you would acquirer weight and the Earths gravity will pull you down at around terminal velocity of about 118 MPH.
Now if you were out in deep interstellar space without any Moon's, Planets or Suns around to pull on you, you may be totally weightless.
(sorry too much coffee)
♫♫♫ I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK ♫♫♫ I drink all night and sleep all day. ♫♫♫
Coming soon to a crop circle near you.....
There is a 66 and third % chance that I'm on the right planet...
"I'm happier then a Jackalope in a balloon factory"
"First rule of testing satellites"
"If its working fine now, then don't mess with it"
"Second rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and now it doesn't work, can you blame someone else?"
"Third rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and it doesn't work now, and you can't blame someone else"
"Can you HIDE it"?
I hope that no part of that suit is made in China...
OK, the space craft/astronaut/satellite is in orbit around the Earth, it/he/she wants to travel in a straight line and would do so if the Earth's gravity was not there to pull down on her/him/it.
Orbital velocity at around 150 miles up is 17,500 miles per hour, (give or take) you/it need(s) to travel this fast to stay up there, and everything in or outside the spacecraft is at that speed, go faster and you move away from the Earth, go slower and you start to come down.
Escape velocity is 24,000 MPH, you need to travel this fast to get away from the Earth, this speed is what all the Moon shots and other missions outside the locality of the Earth is done at.
In orbit if the astronauts want to come down all they have to do is reduce their orbital velocity by about 500 MPH, then it's up to the Earths gravity to bring them the rest of the way, they use the Earths atmosphere to slow them down to a save landing speed.
And remember there is no or very very very little air to make them slow down.
And this is getting way too complicated for now, need more coffee.
Last edited by Terryl; 05-12-2025 at 12:13 AM.
♫♫♫ I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK ♫♫♫ I drink all night and sleep all day. ♫♫♫
Coming soon to a crop circle near you.....
There is a 66 and third % chance that I'm on the right planet...
"I'm happier then a Jackalope in a balloon factory"
"First rule of testing satellites"
"If its working fine now, then don't mess with it"
"Second rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and now it doesn't work, can you blame someone else?"
"Third rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and it doesn't work now, and you can't blame someone else"
"Can you HIDE it"?
You can be in a gerosynchronous orbit
The sidereal day is 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds