alleryStart learning →What does it really mean to say an orbiting astronaut is weightless?
AThe astronaut is in free fall
BGravity is zero in that orbit
CThe astronaut has lost all mass
DThe station blocks Earth's pull
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. The astronaut is in free fall
1. Weightlessness does not mean the gravitational force has stopped acting.
2. The astronaut is in free fall, accelerating at the local acceleration due to gravity.
3. Everything nearby falls at the same rate, so nothing presses on anything else.
4. Passengers in a lift whose cable snapped would feel exactly the same way.
_Source: OpenStax College Physics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 6 "Uniform Circular Motion and Gravitation", section "Weightlessness" and Microgravity_
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