What causes microgravity?

Richard Massey

Microgravity is a condition which makes people or objects appear weightless. Astronauts experience weightlessness not because gravity goes away, but because they roll with it. The International Space Station [ISS] is not far away: it’s 250 miles [400 kilometres] up. At that altitude, the pull of Earth’s gravity is still 88 per cent as strong. With nearly as much gravity as us, the ISS is constantly falling. It would hit the ground in about five minutes. But the station is zooming sideways at five miles [eight kilometres] per second. By the time it would have crashed, the station zoomed over the horizon, and the curvature of Earth moved down the goal posts. Everything inside falls at the same speed, including the astronauts, so although they are still falling, they don’t…

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All About Space (Digital) - 1 Issue, No. 161

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