Why do astronauts float? They're falling!
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Astronauts on the space station don't float because gravity is gone. About 400 km up, Earth's gravity is still roughly 90% as strong as on the ground. They float because the station and everyone inside it are falling together, like riders on a drop-tower ride. The station also moves sideways at about 8 km per second, so it keeps falling around Earth instead of hitting it.
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Transcript
- Sef There's no gravity up here! That's why we float!
- Tiggy Wrong. Gravity here is still about ninety percent as strong as on the ground.
- Sef So why aren't we falling?
- Tiggy We are falling!
- Tiggy Like a drop-tower ride: everything falls together, so it all floats.
- Tiggy But the station also races sideways, about eight kilometers a second.
- Tiggy So it keeps falling, and keeps missing Earth.
- Sef We're falling all day? I need a snack.
Sources
- NASA: What Is Microgravity? nasa.gov
- ESA: How to Switch off Gravity? esa.int
- ESA: Learning to live with the laws of motion esa.int
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