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I used to assume astronauts float because they are far enough from Earth that gravity is almost gone. But the International Space Station orbits only about 400 km above the surface, where Earth's gravitational pull is still a large fraction of what we experience on the ground.
How does that fit with videos of astronauts and loose objects floating inside the station?
I have seen the phrase “continuous free fall”, but I am struggling to picture why the station does not simply fall to Earth. What role does its sideways speed play, and what would a weighing scale under an astronaut's feet actually measure?
A comparison between gravity in low Earth orbit and the sensation of weight would help more than a detailed orbital calculation.
