how did we first know that there’s is no gravity in space before we sent the very first satellite? And that we only needed a limited amount of fuel to propel the rocket out of earth’s atmosphere?

Question

Were there conditions created on earth to see how space would be like? What was the theory based on if an experiment was conducted? Or what’s it literally just – let’s just send it up and see what happens to it?

In: Physics

Answer 1

For one, there is gravity out in space. If there wasn’t, satellites would just fly off without anything to pull them back.

We also knew there were limitations of the atmosphere. You can measure the drop in air pressure as you go up. From there you can extrapolate how far up the atmosphere goes. We figured that if you go high enough, there’s not a lot of air.