Floating in space

Hello

My question is concerning what we see in movies and reality. I see a
bunch of movies that when space shuttle going straight up, when it
reaches the outer sphere, the astronauts seems to be floating.
is this true in real life? do they float in the shuttle in the free
space?
thanks

K

"captoro" wrote in message
...
My question is concerning what we see in movies and reality. I see a
bunch of movies that when space shuttle going straight up, when it
reaches the outer sphere, the astronauts seems to be floating.
is this true in real life? do they float in the shuttle in the free
space?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weightlessness

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microgravity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-fall

Jeff
--
A clever person solves a problem.
A wise person avoids it. -- Einstein

In sci.space.shuttle message fdbae3cc-42a6-4785-8377-008becf6e232@w39g2
000prb.googlegroups.com, Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:14:30, captoro
posted:

My question is concerning what we see in movies and reality. I see a
bunch of movies that when space shuttle going straight up, when it
reaches the outer sphere, the astronauts seems to be floating.
is this true in real life? do they float in the shuttle in the free
space?

Use http://www.nasa.gov/55644main_NASATV_Windows.asx for a while, and
decide for yourself. Or ask your science teacher.

--
(c) John Stockton, nr London, UK. Turnpike v6.05 MIME.
Web URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/ - FAQqish topics, acronyms & links;
Astro stuff via astron-1.htm, gravity0.htm ; quotings.htm, pascal.htm, etc.
No Encoding. Quotes before replies. Snip well. Write clearly. Don't Mail News.

Are you meaning when the engines cut off. I think this is what you men. The
answer is yes. When power is removed its in free fall, even though it may
still be going up, its not accelerating.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"captoro" wrote in message
...
Hello

My question is concerning what we see in movies and reality. I see a
bunch of movies that when space shuttle going straight up, when it
reaches the outer sphere, the astronauts seems to be floating.
is this true in real life? do they float in the shuttle in the free
space?
thanks

K

On Oct 21, 3:14*am, captoro wrote:
Hello

My question is concerning what we see in movies and reality. I see a
bunch of movies that when *space shuttle going straight up, when it
reaches the outer sphere, the astronauts seems to be floating.
is this true in real life? do they float in the shuttle in the free
space?
thanks

There are so many misconceptions out there about "weighlessness". I
frequently get asked how high you have to be before there is no
gravity. The shuttle flies only a few hundred kilometers above earth
where the pull of gravity is only very slightly less than on the
surface. BUT as soon as those engines shut down, the shuttle is in
free fall, a bit like being in an elevator when the cable has broken.
Both you and the shuttle ( or elevator) are being pulled by gravity so
you feel weightless because your floor is falling with you. While the
engines are running the spacecraft is accelerating and pushing you
against your seat, and you will feel "weight" or at least what feels
like weight where "down" is in the direction opposite to your
acceleration. Does that make sense to you ?
Terry

On Oct 20, 11:14*am, captoro wrote:
Hello

My question is concerning what we see in movies and reality. I see a
bunch of movies that when *space shuttle going straight up, when it
reaches the outer sphere, the astronauts seems to be floating.
is this true in real life? do they float in the shuttle in the free
space?
thanks

K

If the shuttle expended all of it's fuel flying straight up. it would
fall all the way back down to the Earth. After the engines quit, the
astronauts would feel weightlessness as soon as the engines stopped
firing. Then they would float in zero-gee as the spacecraft would
begin to plunge back into the atmosphere. They would get a gradual
buildup of gees as the shuttle would encounter the friction caused by
the atmosphere, but the shuttle would soon burn up as the temperature
buildup would exceed the design limits of the shuttles Thermal
Protection System.

In a normal shuttle flight, the shuttle is first launched vertically
to clear the denser parts of the atmosphere, then is sent on a
trajectory more parallel to the earth's curvature. So by the time it
gets to MECO, it is near orbital velocity. that is, just enough
velocity to keep the shuttle from falling back into the atmosphere.
They then fire the OMS engines to add the final push in velocity to
keep it above the atmosphere.

The best way I learned orbital mechanics was to see Newton's original
diagram of a cannon firing a cannon ball off of a mountain whose peak
was above the atmosphere. If you fired it with less velocity, it would
keep falling back to the earth. But with enough added powder, the ball
would fall away with the same curvature as the earth's surface, so it
would "fall" al lthe way around the earth without touching it. This
why zero-gee or weightlessness is also sometimes called "free fall"
You are literally falling around the earth.

I hope this was not trolling.....