When in orbit, the Earth is constantly "below" the spaceship but when is the spaceship upside down and when is it the right way up? How about when the spaceship is flying through space?
Is there a "right way up" in Space?
2006-08-23 08:37:57 · 14 answers · asked by anon 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The right way up is determined by gravity. Our whole way of life is determined by it. As in space you don't have gravity there is no right way up. A cup which is designed to hold water in a gravity field, can't hold water in space.
People would float around inside the spaceship, any way up, unless they had some kind of artificial gravity. No one knows how this could be done, but it is what is supposed to occur in sci fi films. Once you have gravity, you have "right way up" again.
The ship itself would have no right way up until it approached a material object. Then that would be "down" if you wanted to go there. As you entered it's gravitational field, the ship would then have a "right way up" unless it was spherical.
2006-08-23 09:20:07 · answer #1 · answered by hi_patia 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
While there is no "up or down" the Astronauts that participated with Cosmonauts during MIR made some psychological notes that were used in the building of the International Space Station.
MIR (the Russian space station from last decade) had modules that generally didn't provide any reference point, but usually one side of a module was picked as a place for harness restraints and computer terminals. But when they'd fly through to another module, the harness' and computers were mounted on a completely different surface. This made it very disorienting for astronauts and provided some form of nausea and certainly a lack of effiency.
When ISS was built, they designed the illusion of an up and down by shaping the doorways to modules (square on the top and angled in on the bottom) and putting lights along the top along with blowing vents, and the longer air intakes were on the bottom. They made sure that each attachment tried to match the opposite docked module to be in the same orientation. Additionally, they color coded the walls, so that an astronaut could quickly look up from work (or from a nap) and know exactly where they are. This is very important for emergencies as well.
So while there is no "up and down" it's important to humans to have the feeling of up and down...at least until we get used to being in space for long periods of time.
2006-08-23 16:11:54 · answer #2 · answered by Doob_age 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yup - it's normally refered to as out from earth's gravitational center, but since we for a long time lived on something we believed was flat - not just huge - up was what you had to settle with. "Up" is a reference thing, just like "right". It's not important in what direction it is unless you refer it to something else. A persons "right" arm would be on their left side if they turn around for example :D So... "up" could be relative - you - twirling around in a spaceship or... - the spaceship - oribiting earth or... - earth - orbiting the Sun etc... Next is Solar system, Galaxy, Galaxygroup, Supergalaxy... bla, bla, bla
2006-08-23 17:52:06 · answer #3 · answered by mattias carlsson 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi. "Up" usually means the direction opposite to the largest force of gravity, so it means something different if you are in orbit around the moon or sun or another body. If your question is "do we feel 'up' in orbit" the answer is maybe. The shuttle flies with her tail down toward the earth and this is the most stable orbit, I think. A larger (longer) object would "feel" this more.
2006-08-23 15:44:32 · answer #4 · answered by Cirric 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is no up or down in space. You used to hear that all the time in the 50s and 60s but that is never stated any more. I am not sure why. Maybe they assume everyone already knows it.
2006-08-23 15:50:50 · answer #5 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not really. Everything is relative. And since space is infinite, it is very hard to look at you're position in it compared to something else. You can say you're up above the earth. But you can't say your up if you're not comparing yourself to anything. As for gravity, if the space craft you're in has rotation, it creates gravity inside the vessel. Then you will be able to stand. So you can technically say you're standing up inside the craft.
2006-08-23 15:49:37 · answer #6 · answered by Katie B 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, because direction is relative. North and south are relative to two pinpoints on Earth: the north and south poles. Up is relative to gravity's pull. Left and right are relative to your own facing direction (someone facing you has the opposite directions; your right is their left). No direction is absolute in space, which would make it very hard to give directions to a planet in another solar system...
2006-08-23 15:46:23 · answer #7 · answered by Black Angel 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they make use of the space in the ship or capsule by using all of the surfaces.
2006-08-23 16:17:42 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Up is the opposite way to the pull of gravity, so if there's no gravity then there's no up I guess...
2006-08-23 15:40:38 · answer #9 · answered by voodoo_melon 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When its dump time you will figure it out
2006-08-23 15:44:20 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋