• Question: How did a guy skydive from space if there is no gravity ?

    Asked by to Andrei, Ekbal, Gemma, Helen, Ruth on 17 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Ekbal Hussain

      Ekbal Hussain answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      Hi!

      The Red Bull Stratos dive you are talking about was the highest distance someone has ever skydived from. The diver called Felix jumped out of a little pod when it reached 39 kilometres above the ground.

      Although this is very very high, he was still actually within the Earth’s atmosphere. He wasn’t actually “in space” as such. So he was still well within reach of the Earth’s gravity. Scientists define the edge of space at around 100km, which is almost 3 times higher than the distance Felix jumped from.

      But even at that height the Earth will still pull you back towards the Earth. Even all the satellites in space, which can often go up to 800 kilometres will get pulled back down to Earth if they stop moving. So the Earth’s gravity actually has a pretty impressive reach.

Comments

  • Photo: Ekbal

    Ekbal commented on :

    Actually, my mate Wally the woolly rhino (see picture at the bottom of my profile) reminded me of something even cooler.

    Our moon is about 384,000 kilometres away from the Earth, and even that is being held up there by Earth’s gravity! So if the moon suddenly stopped orbiting around the earth it would get pulled down to the ground …

    Let’s hope, that never happens! 😛