In uk.sci.astronomy message
, Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:16:34, Barry Schwarz posted:


Compared to almost any other non-manmade object, the mass of the ISS
is quite small.

That depends on your definition of "object". The Solar System contains
a large number of small objects of the sort that end up as meteors. The
Sahara also contains a large number of objects : grains of sand (with
the occasional camel, jerboa, etc.).


Does ISS attract the cosmonauts or repel them?

And it would repel them because? The gravitational force between two
objects is proportional to the product of their masses. There is no
**noticeable** attraction between the ISS and the supply ships that
dock with it periodically. The mass of the supply ship is orders of
magnitude more than the mass of a cosmonaut. The attraction between
the ISS and a cosmonaut would therefore be orders of magnitude less.

Only just "orders" - a cosmonaut weighs something under 100kg and a
Soyuz around 100 times more.

The surface of the Hill sphere of a Soyuz re-entry capsule may well be
outside the surface of the capsule, and so it could be possible to orbit
around the outside of a Soyuz. IMHO, without calculation, it should be
possible for a Lunar Soyuz in mid-path. The period would, of course, be
hours.

Outside the Earth-capsule Roche Limit, the capsule will by definition
attract a cosmonaut particle.

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