Quote:
Originally Posted by RoninLB
so if the shuttle stopped moving at it's orbit distance gravity would be same as on earth?
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Basically, yes. Gravity's effect on you (or any mass) is a function of your distance from the center of the mass. Assuming the diameter of the Earth is about 8000 miles (I don't know what it is exactly), if you're standing on the surface of the Earth, you're about 4000 miles from the center. If you're on the shuttle in orbit (typical orbit is around 200 miles), the you're only about 5% farther away from the center, so the effect of gravity is only slightly different. You'd be hard pressed to notice.
If the shuttle stopped moving, it would drop like a rock. In fact, that's how they change the orbit - speed up and they climb to higher orbit, slow down and they fall to a lower orbit. To de-orbit they slow down a bunch.