Final answer:
The statement is true; Kepler's laws assert that a planet increases its speed as it gets closer to its parent star and slows down as it moves away, due to conservation of angular momentum and gravity.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct response to this question is true. According to Kepler's laws of planetary motion, specifically Kepler's second law, a satellite, including Earth, does increase its speed as it approaches its parent body due to the conservation of angular momentum and decreases its speed as it moves away. This can be illustrated by the fact that planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one of the two foci, not the center. Consequently, as the planet gets closer to the Sun, it moves faster to sweep out equal areas in equal times, as per Kepler's second law of planetary motion (area law).
Newton's law of universal gravitation also implicates that the gravitational force does not become zero no matter how far apart two bodies are. This force is responsible for the effects we observe in accordance with Kepler's laws. Moreover, during the Sun's red giant phase billions of years from now, it is predicted based on current astrophysical understanding that Earth's orbit may change due to the Sun losing mass and the tidal forces acting upon the Sun by the Earth.