There is no air resistance, I get that. And the space craft/ISS is in orbit, I *kind* of get that. But if astronauts still experience acceleration in space, why do they not experience deceleration when they are no longer getting “pulled” by their vehicle?
BONUS QUESTION: at what point does acceleration forces stop? A space ship accelerates in space, all crew are pushed back into their seats, but when does that feeling dissipate if they remain at that new speed?
In: Physics
There is no acceleration forward or back, only towards the centre of the earth, that is what creates the orbit (like how yo-yo string must be tense to keep it going round and round). And that acceleration acts on both the ISS and the astronaut by precisely the same amount, because they’re in the same place. So there is no reason an astronaut should fly away from the iss as there is no difference in acceleration.
The acceleration pushing crew back in the seat come from engines being fired. This disappears the exact moment the engines are turned off.
The astronaut would “fly away” if the space ship was firing big engines when they let go
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