Eli5: if on space Newtown law says that for every action there is an equal reaction, people moving through the ISS will eventualy make it go out of orbit?

Question

They are moving themselves by pulling on the rods, won’t that make the ISS move very little, but after a ton of movement and a ton of time, won’t it move closer or farther from the orbit and collide with earth or drift through space?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Technically yes, but just as the earth is attracted to your own gravitational pull, it will never be enough to do anything noticeable. The ISS weighs 200 tons. And the ISS is in a low orbit, where there’s still atmosphere, but it’s barely noticeable. The molecules that are still there, though, induce drag and slow down the station, so it has to periodically fire the thrusters of a docked ship to push it back into orbit.