why when the international space station is only 250miles away does it take at least 4 hours to get there?

Question

I’m going to be very disappointed if the rockets top out at 65mph.

In: Planetary Science

Answer 1

I think one of the most basic misunderstandings of space travel is how satellites stay up there. Most people think you go up high and then you’re “above the gravity” or something and you just hang there. That is not at all how it works. The ISS experiences nearly as much gravity as on earth. The way it stays up there is by traveling so fast “sideways” that as it falls the curve of the fall is the same as the curve of the earth. The exact speed depends on how far you are from the earth, but for the ISS it’s about 17,500 mph.

So not only do you have to get up 250 miles, you also have to go sideways fast enough to catch the ISS and stay in orbit yourself.

It’s quite a thing, really.