If you were in a spacecraft moving at 1000 miles/hour in outer space and you turned off the engines, what would happen to the speed and direction of your spacecraft & why?

Question

If you were in a spacecraft moving at 1000 miles/hour in outer space and you turned off the engines, what would happen to the speed and direction of your spacecraft & why?

In: 13

Answer 1

1000mph is actually very slow compared to most things in space. You’d have to go much faster than that just to enter Earth orbit. Many airplanes can go faster than 1000 mph. If you were near Earth when you cut your engine, you’d just fall back down.

If you were in interplanetary space, a different planet or moon might pull you in, but it might also be the sun. Depends on where you actually were.