thebigbaka
20331
780
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And it just makes perfect sense that they are falling with the space station they're not necessarily weightless but they are in relation to the space station
Jul 5, 2026 6:08 AM
thebigbaka
20331
780
8
And it just makes perfect sense that they are falling with the space station they're not necessarily weightless but they are in relation to the space station
willpostanything
so fall like aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAaaaaaaaa oh miss it aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
hexephant
Always falling and always missing the ground... so it's the same physics as walking while drunk or sleepy
LeftyBigGuns
TallynNyntyg
God, such bad aim! Missing the ground for so long!
mimst
Just wait 'til they find out that the tide doesn't come to the shore---the land runs into the tide!
ricpaul
Good that flat earthers don't believe in science, otherwise they'd have a hard time finding an alternate explanation for this...
mimst
Kids today ! ....
CharacterNotUnlocked
If Dr Karl isn't global he fucking should be
license2kilt
I love his explanation, and I absolutely love the moment that it clicks for them.
somebackup
A boy podcast without being losers? That's crazy
DenseBot
I like this Science Larry David
joepineapplesindrag
Fck i love Dr Karl
TheDreadPirateMontoya
He's a national treasure.
BeachsideBarghest
I'm surprised these guys didnt know this, we learnt this in highschool basic science! Australia's education isn't THAT bad!
yrypics
I saw a press conference with an astronaut where he mentioned "zero gravity" and then, as an aside, almost to himself, said "well, there's still gravity, it's just pulled out" and I suddenly got it.
The phrase "zero gravity" is an obstacle to understanding.
yrypics
Nulled, not pulled. Autocorrect strikes again.
EJust
Good to see logical explanations, but I've known this since I was 12.
copingcabana
Everything happens for a reason and usually that reason is physics.
thepicklebucket
I remember learning this in the 5th grade, but...cool
marconipenguino
Watching somebody get it is always cool.
CoalhouseWalker
I always love to see someone learn something new to them. My only annoyance with things like this is when people say stuff like "how come they didn't teach us this?!?" Because for most of the stuff, they did - and some people learned it the first time. Some asked questions and got these answers. Others weren't curious enough to learn it. Some are curious now. Welcome to all, and space is legitimately very cool.
CoalhouseWalker
For instance it is foreign to me that some people aren't aware of rocket launches and have never watched one. But if you ever watch one, the rocket turns sideways pretty quickly. My guess is the guys in the video have either never watched one or somehow just never wondered why it does that.
SubtleOrc
we love Dr Karl
Cyandvai
I've heard that 'always falling' logic before.
SergeyPrkl
Me too, it was taught in Highschool.
netutoring
Star Trek explained that one to me awhile ago. I forget the episode....but yeah, I owe a lot of space knowledge to that show.
mikeatike
I ahh, would not get the majority of my space knowledge from science fiction.
netutoring
Star Trek, at least the older shows, based a lot of what they talked about based on actual science. That's why it had the reputation as for being more for the uncool kids than Star Wars.
netutoring
Man, judging by the downvotes.... has Star Trek really lost the reputation it had in the '80s and '90s? It was NASA's favorite for how much it was predicting the future of technology, and for how much science it included within the show. Star Trek used to be known for its usage of real scientific theory and conjecture. It was the sci-fi for the nerdiest of nerds. I guess it doesn't have that reputation anymore, huh.
bitemark
Being in orbit used to be described as being in "free fall" and this is why
TheBraveCompanions
Kerbal Space Program gave me a more intuitive understanding of orbits and space travel than high school and college physics.
mimst
Good for you.
alltherobots
Kerbal Space Program probably single-handedly increased the number of people on the planet that understand anything about orbital mechanics by two orders of magnitude.
TrumpRapesAndEatsChildren0002
fantabuloustimewaster
The only difference between microgravity on the space station versus microgravity on the "vomit comet" parabolic airplane trajectory is how frequently the vessel requires a course correction.
T3sl4co1l
And hence the name. Entering orbit, some nausea is common, but it subsides as the brain adapts to the new normal. A parabolic flight path is a little less normal :-)
hyperchondriac
It's a little sad that men their age, presumably from developed nations, never learned what an orbit is.
kaneinencanto
Not to mention going straight up and coming straight back down is what Blue Origin flights do. They come down in the general area of where they launched still because there's this little thing (that particularly flat Earther types love to forget about) called the conservation of inertia. When that rocket launches it still has some horizontal inertia from being on the surface. L
Yasashii93
I used to think like those guys do and only got it once I started playing Kerbal Space Program. Highly recommend it if you want to learn orbital mechanics.
Camelspotting
Plus apoapsis is just fun to say
crawl97
They're just using hitchhikers guide to the galaxy logic, and i'm here for that. just fall and miss the ground
imnotinthewitnessprotectionprogram
It’s so big and round what should I call it??
Lynkfox
I wonder if it will be friends with me?
Vrs
Oh god not again
theshinobi23
That's not floating. That's just falling with style!
BallsToYouMyGoodSir
^^^^ i was gonna say that
IMakeLotsOfReferencesAndRemakes
Gotta get distracted at the last second.
NairouTryyshokk
Someone read the books!
IMakeLotsOfReferencesAndRemakes
Indeed the trilogy in five parts was very entertaining.
Exyr
Its how Newton described it. He came up with launching a cannon ball off the top of a mountain and was like how fast would this have to go to go around the earth and hit itself
wobblecopterrrr
it always comes back around to "hmmm wonder if I can hit that asshole waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over there?"..
Keru
"Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a bitch in space, and THAT, ensign, is why we do not EYEBALL it"
mikeatike
On the other side of the planet.
frozenlake247
On the same side of the planet as the asshole doing the shooting in this case; just taking the long way ‘round to hit them?
mikeatike
Basically. Fore it far enough and it would hit yourself in the back.
Well, at least theoretically. This ignores air resistance and the fact that the earth isn't a perfect sphere and there are huge mountains.
wobblecopterrrr
wait till you learn about gow the moon.. planets.. galaxies.... THE WHOLE FN UNIVERSE!!! works, it's basically that.
theblondeone
I'm dum-dum, does this mean that the whole Universe is always falling towards something? What is this SOMETHING?!
Subtilico
We are falling towards the Great Attractor.
mikeatike
Actually yes. The moon is traveling 1km/sec around the Earth, otherwise it would fall and hit us. The Earth-Moon system orbits the sun at abkut 30km/sec. Rhe sun is MUCh more massive so we gotta move faster.
The solar aystem orbits the center of the galaxy at 230km/sec.
And the Milky Way generally orbits the core of Laniakea Supercluster (which is a recently discovered huge chunk of galaxies) at 630km/sec.
mikeatike
And not entirely clear, but the whole of everything nearby seems to be moving in a direction relative to the cosmic microwave background, which is bascislly an echo of rhe Big Bang. This movement is called Dark Flow, and isn't a widely accepted theory yet. My guess is we will find out in rhe next couple decades with big new telescopes going online.
mikeatike
One of my favoeite things in science is when I found out about the "Great Attractor" in the late 90s. Nobody knew wtf it is, but there seemed to be a spot that everything in our local universe was falling towards. It sits on the opposite side of the Milky Way, so we cant see it.
mikeatike
In the early 2000s with more powerful infrared telescope that can punch though the milky way dust, we discovered its actually a huge Supercluster we are a part of, and are orbiting. This is the Laniakea Supercluster.
PutItInNeutral
The sensation of zero gravity is identical to that of falling.
Subtilico
That is why you can simulate it in a plane that flies up and down in a sinus wave pattern.
CheeseB0t
Sine* wave
Exyr
Minus the 100mph wind.
T3sl4co1l
Jesse "yeah science" meme but put Einstein's face on him and s/science/relativity/
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PutItInNeutral
It is a micro gravity environment. We all watched the video. You are being pedantic.
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TheAuthorOfTheJournalsMyBrother
The purpose of the video is to explain that the feeling of weightlessness experienced on the space station is not actually due to distance from a gravitational body (as they say, gravity at the ISS' height is 90%), but rather due to the fall the station is always experiencing. This comment corroborates that the sensation of zero gravity is identical to that of falling, the latter of the two being the one found on the ISS.
cowboycoco
Um, yes? That's exactly the point? They're not in zero-G, they're falling. But from their perspective, they can't tell the difference.
theobstruction
Yes, which feels the same as zero gravity when everything around you is moving the same way.
kaneinencanto
But they're constantly in free fall, which to all senses feels like no gravity.
mikeatike
Tell thay to Michael Collins.
kaneinencanto
Care to elaborate?
mikeatike
The 90% applies to low earth orbit. So the Apollo astronauts experienced even less of the earth's gravity. I mentioned Collins because he was rhe command module pilot and didnt land, to not confuse the issue with the moons gravity.
This would apply to the other CMPs, Apollos 8, 10, 13, both Artemis missions so far. (Except John Young and Gene Cernan, which landed on later Apollo Missions)
kaneinencanto
I gotcha now...but, really any of the Apollo astronauts would be able to make the comparison really. After all, they all spent a bit over a day in the space transiting between Earth orbit and Lunar Orbit. Them and as you say, the Artemis crews as well, have all experienced the lowest actual gravitational force anyone ever could have and would be able to tell if free fall feels the same. Though I'd say Artemis crews would be able to say best, more room to move in the cabin than Apollo had.