when people are out in space how do they know wich way is up?

Question

i ask this because in movies all the space ships are facing the same direction how would they know wich way to face

Answer 1

There is no up or down in space. It is simply a convention of sci-fi movies to show ships facing in the direction that makes sense to the audience. In space, up relative. It's the direction that your head is in and down is the direction that your feet are in.

On Earth, we all have the same sense of up and down because of the Earth's gravity. The Earth's gravity is "caused" by its mass and by our proximity to it... NOT by centrifugal force. The Earth would exert the same gravitational force on us if it were not spinning at all.

In space, the effects of gravity can be simulated using centrifugal force (a name for the combination of centripetal force and inertia). If you are in a ring shaped space station that is rotating at an appropriate rate, you will feel like up is towards the center of the ring and down is towards the outside of the ring. This is because the forces on you will feel just like gravity.

Answer 2

There is no 'up' in space. The reason we have an 'up' is because the centrifugal force of the Earth spinning causes gravity, keeping us stuck to its surface. Thus 'up' is the opposite direction of that natural force. In space, it doesn't matter which direction anything is facing. They show an 'up' in movies simply because that's how people look at things because, for the most part, gravity and the resulting directions are all we know.

Answer 3

In reality there is no up. Up is only a direction relative to other objects, or for us the opposite of any gravitational pull. Since there's effectively 0 gravity in a spaceship, there's nowhere you could call 'up'.

Spaceships on TV and in movies face the same way so that they look good, but there's no reason why they couldn't be facing in different directions - nobody on board would notice.

Answer 4

They agree to designate a certain direction as being "up" in relation to the the construction of the space ship since they no longer have gravity to make the choice for them.

It's like on a sailing ship where "port" means left and "starboard" means right only if you are facing the bow of the ship.

Answer 5

There really isn't an up or down without gravity. There's just "toward the planet (moon, whatever)". Movie makers don't know much about space. Notice how often ships in space make noise with engines, weapons, etc.? With no air there's no sound!

Answer 6

Well see, they pick one person (the one the crew dislikes the most - usually) and kick that person outside the spaceship. Bcuz when ur in space the sun is closer to u then on earth, this person will get badly burned. SO then the crew just uses the burnt person as a sort of human compass, the burnt side being the direction of the sun.

Answer 7

There is no up... unless you need to read a computer screen. Try to remember that movies aren't real. Watch the NASA channel instead. You'll see the astronauts turned different ways unless they're posed for a picture.
By the way... centrifugal force from the Earth spinning doesn't cause gravity. mienzeye really doesn't have a grip on reality.

Answer 8

During Apollo 11, Command Module (Columbia) pilot Michael Collins said to Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin who were in the Lunar Module (Eagle) this apt statement:

"That's a fine looking flying machine you have there Eagle, dispite the fact you're upside down!"

Armstrong replied: "Somebody's upside down!"

It's all relative.

Answer 9

The only direction they have is their orbit, and back to Earth. Up and down are irrelevant in space.

Answer 10

They don't, and they don't all have to face the same way. I could imagine in the movies it is because those are shot in studios, with gravity?