How does a Space Staion in orbit without getting too close Earth's Atmosphere?

Answer 1

Once it is out of the atmosphere (via rocket or space shuttle) it will orbit without coming back into contact with our atmosphere. There are different types of orbits, some closer to the atmosphere (low-earth orbit), and some farther (high-earth orbit). It all depends on where it released, but the speed it is traveling at and the gravitational force of the earth, allow it to stay in orbit for a very long time. Eventually, all things in orbit will fall out of orbit and likely enter our atmosphere and burn...unless they have something on board to keep the speed up.

Answer 2

throw a rock. Now, throw the rock with more energy. Now, throw another one with still more energy. each one goes a bit further than the previously thrown one. The ISS, like any orbiting satellite, is given enough "forward' velocity to go far enough out so that when it "falls" down, there is no longer any earth or atmosphere to fall into. It just keeps falling around the earth.
The above explanation is the Newtonian view of things.
For the Einsteinian or relativistic view read on...
Every object creates its own gravity well which warps or curves the space around it. All objects fall towards the center of the well. Some objects' wells [like the one your body creates] is pretty much effectively negated by one created by a more massive object's well [like the Earth's]. This is why a pen falls to the ground when you release it from your outstretched hand instead of falling towards you--although it does in an infinitesimal way. So, the Earth is traveling in a straight line [back to Newton] through the curvature of spacetime [thank you Einstein] created by the Sun. The Moon travels a straight line "around" the curvature of the Earth's gravity well. The ISS and all satellites travel a straight line through the Earth's curved gravity well, too. That straight line is at a higher level or altitude than the top of the Earth's atmosphere.

Answer 3

The space station has tangential velocity ( parallel to the earths surface) sufficient to ensure motion around the earth rather than into it. Because there is no resistance to reduce its speed, the space station falls around the earth indefinitely. Similarly, the planets continuously fall around the sun in closed paths. Why don't planets fall into the sun? Because of their tangential velocities. If their tangential velocities were reduced to zero, then they would straight toward the sun. Any objects that lose their tangential velocity with the sun (or earth) have long ago crashed into it. What remains is the harmony that we observe.

Satilite motion was first understood by Issac Newton, who reasoned that the moon was simply a projectile circling earth under the attraction of gravity. He compared the motion of the moon to a cannon ball fired from the top of a high mountain. He imagined that the mountain top was above earths aptmosphere, so that the air drag would not impede on the motion of the cannon ball. If fired with low horozontal speed, a cannon ball would follow a curved path and soon hit the earth below. IF it were fired faster, its path would be less curved, and it would hit the earth further away. If a cannon ball were fired fast enough, Newton reasoned, the curved path would become a circle and the cannon ball would circle the earth indefinitely. It would be in orbit.

Answer 4

Any orbit above about 90 kilometers height will not interact very strongly with the earth's atmosphere. A stable orbit has two nodes: Perigee and Apigee. Perigee is the lowest approach and Perigee is the highest. They are at opposite ends of an orbit. If Perigee is above the earth's atmosphere, then there is no interaction with it.

Answer 5

Space station orbits the earth 140 miles up from the surface of earth. Its speed keeps it out of our atmosphere. When the space shuttle is attached to space station for missions, it actually boosts the orbit trajectory as needed to keep it at or near 140 miles up.

Answer 6

The space station orbits at ~350-360km, but varies by several km as the small but finite atmospheric drag at that altitude takes its toll. The space station requires periodic boosts, which is one of the functions of visiting shuttles (I think) and Russian spacecraft (I know).

There is a nice plot of the ISS altitude history at the bottom of this page: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=15919

The steep rises are the orbital adjusts. Looks like it would decay and re-enter over a period of a few decades, if left alone.

Answer 7

They place the station in such a place and at such a speed that it is perfectly balanced between being thrown out of orbit by centrifugal force and falling in due to Earth's gravity.

Answer 8

by going fast enough, it can reach an orbit beyond the atmosephere