Question

When Felix Baumgartner stepped off the platform hanging from his high-altitude balloon, he fell to Earth. However, when an astronaut steps out of the International Space Station, she doesn't fall. Why?

(a) The space station is much higher than the balloon, where gravity is much weaker.
(b) The space station is in free-fall, but the balloon was not.
(c) The space station is in orbit around the Earth, but the balloon was not.
(d) The astronaut doesn't have to deal with air resistance, but Felix did.
(e) The astronaut uses a jet pack, but Felix used a parachute.

Answer 1

The astronaut in the International Space Station doesn't fall towards Earth because the ISS is in a state of free-fall orbiting the planet, creating a condition of weightlessness despite gravity being nearly as strong as on Earth's surface.

Step-by-step explanation:

When Felix Baumgartner stepped off from his balloon platform, he fell toward Earth due to the pull of gravity and the absence of sufficient horizontal velocity to keep him in orbit. On the other hand, the International Space Station (ISS) is continuously falling around Earth, but it doesn't crash down because it is in free-fall at an orbital speed that keeps it circling the planet. This state of free-fall creates the sensation of weightlessness for the astronauts inside the ISS, similar to people inside a box that is falling with them, who would not feel any gravitational force inside the box. The astronaut doesn't fall to Earth like Felix because the ISS is in constant free-fall around Earth due to its high velocity, despite the gravitational pull being still about 90% as strong as on the surface of the planet.