this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2024
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Is this true for everything in orbit though? Like, the ISS is in near earth orbit and so it's absolutely just falling. But what about things up in a geostationary orbit? What about the moon?
Technically yes. The only thing keeping it near the object it's orbiting is that objects gravity well. The only thing keeping the orbiting object from falling into the well is its speed.
Depends on your reference frame
Adding to @[email protected]'s answer, an interesting tidbit: solar wind, particularly during more solar activity, blows (some of) Earth's atmosphere all the way past the orbit of the Moon... so at some points in time, the Moon not only falls with style, but also falls through Earth's atmosphere!