why all planet orbiting sun. Not falling into it same with iss in outer space of earth .

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why all planet orbiting sun. Not falling into it same with iss in outer space of earth .

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Think about spinning a ball on a rope quickly. As long as you spin it quickly enough, it will spin around in a circle. The rope is like the force of gravity pulling it into the center, and stopping it from flying away. But if it didn’t have that momentum, the gravity would just suck it in. Basically, for any given distance from an object there’s a certain speed where gravity will keep it in orbit. If it goes faster, it will fly away; if it goes slower, it will get sucked in.

For ISS or any satellite, if you launch it too slowly, it falls back to Earth, launch it too fast, it flies away. Launch it just right and it goes into orbit.

Edit: I realize that this explanation makes it sound like orbits are circles. They’re actually ellipses, but the math behind why that is is more complicated.

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