What happens if you fly towards space ?

Scott Lowrey wrote:

Gravity
gets weaker as you get further away from a massive object like Earth,

Or any other object. Otherwise all the physics I learned would have to
be thrown out the window.

On 2003-11-02 15:42:49 -0800, (null) said:

To be "in orbit" essentially means that you are constantly falling but
always "missing" the Earth!

This is similar to the way Douglas Adams explains flying. He wasn't too far off.

--
Larry Fransson
Seattle, WA

That was something like "Throwing yourself at the ground and missing",
right? It's been quite a while since I read those books...

"Larry Fransson" wrote in message
t...
On 2003-11-02 15:42:49 -0800, (null) said:

To be "in orbit" essentially means that you are constantly falling but
always "missing" the Earth!

This is similar to the way Douglas Adams explains flying. He wasn't too
far off.

--
Larry Fransson
Seattle, WA

On Mon, 3 Nov 2003, Sven wrote:

That was something like "Throwing yourself at the ground and missing",
right? It's been quite a while since I read those books...

I'm not sure this is 100% accurate, but:

"There is an art... to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw
yourself at the ground and miss."

A quick googling has given me half a dozen different 'missing the ground'
quotes from Hitchhiker's Guide, though. The above is the one I've got on
my PC desktop right now, though.

Brian.


"Larry Fransson" wrote in message
t...
On 2003-11-02 15:42:49 -0800, (null) said:

To be "in orbit" essentially means that you are constantly falling but
always "missing" the Earth!

This is similar to the way Douglas Adams explains flying. He wasn't too
far off.

--
Larry Fransson
Seattle, WA

Scott Lowrey wrote, "... the speed required to break away is called "escape
velocity". It works out to about 7 miles per second (around 25,000 MPH) for
a human-scale ship."

You can escape Earth's gravity at any speed. Five miles per hour will do
just fine. All you have to do is figure out a way to keep going 5 mph
straight up.

Jon

From: Mxsmanic
Date: 11/2/2003 6:56 AM Central Standard Time

Beyond a certain altitude (usually from
30,000-90,000 feet, depending on the aircraft), there isn't enough air
to maintain lift and/or power the engines, and so you can't go any
higher than that, which prevents
That is why the GLIDER altitude record is just a tad under 50,000 feet.
Never got over 18,300 feet myself. Mac

Mackfly writes:

That is why the GLIDER altitude record is just a tad under 50,000 feet.
Never got over 18,300 feet myself.

It's conceivable that a glider could fly at just about any altitude that
can be attained by dust or other solid matter, if the glider were
ideally constructed. The higher the altitude, the more difficult it is
to construct such a glider, though. I can easily understand a glider
with a higher ceiling than a powered aircraft, simply because the lack
of a power plant greatly reduces the weight of the aircraft.

Still, 50,000 feet is very impressive!

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

will you enter earth´s orbit?

Stan, I tried this several times in the Cub, and at no time did I
leave the earth's gravitational field.
all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put CUB in subject line)

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

Went up to 5,000' the other day, really scary. You could see the
blackness coming down and satelites going past.


--
studentpilot
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted via OziPilots Online [ http://www.OziPilotsOnline.com.au ]
- A website for Australian Pilots regardless of when, why, or what they fly -

Have a helo pilot friend, says above 500 ft agl he feels oxygen starvation,
space motion sickness, gravity effects, etc.
Oh boy.......


"studentpilot" wrote in
message ...

Went up to 5,000' the other day, really scary. You could see the
blackness coming down and satelites going past.


--
studentpilot
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted via OziPilots Online [ http://www.OziPilotsOnline.com.au ]
- A website for Australian Pilots regardless of when, why, or what they
fly -