Trust me, I'm trying hard to see the logic in this, so please bear with me.
How doe the ISS travel that fast?
The rockets that accelerated the parts into that orbit.
Everyone on here has told me that inertia is not a force. So the only force acting on the ISS, that I can see, is the force of gravity. I would think the ISS has to be in free fall towards the center of Earth because the definition of gravity is the force that attracts a body toward the center of the Earth. Traveling 17,150 mph, it will take 52 seconds to hit the ground. And somehow it misses the Earth and goes around it? in order to go around it, wouldn't it have to be pulled at an angle towards the side of the Earth and not pulled towards the center? Explain that please.
It's moving 17,150 mph parallel with the surface of the planet while being pulled down, therefore it keeps missing the planet. Look at your own links and pictures you keep posting.
To answer getrealzommb, No it doesn't. on line it say that the floating is because of free fall, as if they are on an elevator or the vomit comet.
Back to 29silhouette, You are telling that the ISS is traveling 17,500 mph parallel with the earth and gravity is trying to pull it down. And That causes free fall.
Yendor imagine you are standing on a earth with no atmosphere... and you drop a ball from your hand... It will fall directly down.
If you throw that same ball softly it will travel a couple of meter before it will hit the ground.
The harder you throw it the further it will travel before it will hit the ground.
Now imagine you throw that ball at 17 000 mph then you will throw the ball over the edge of the earth (The Horizon), in other words the ball will travel so fast that it will never reach the ground, and as the earth is round at will just keep on falling over the horizon. With no atmosphere to cause friction and slow the ball down, it will just keep on going for ever.
The ISS is like the ball that you threw, they just used rockets to propel it so fast.