01. What causes us to become weightless? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

Becoming weightless is actually caused by the balances of forces as a person or spacecraft goes into orbit around the Earth. In order to be in orbit you must be above most of the atmosphere so that there is very little resistance to the spacecraft's motion. Generally, most Space Shuttles and other low Earth orbit (LEO) spacecraft are about 200 miles above the surface of the Earth.

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Answer provided by Byron Lichtenberg, Ph.D.

Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer

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