Orientation of astronauts shifts when ship crosses into the Moon's gravitational field?

Question

In his famous novel Journey to the Moon, Jules Verne stated that occupants in a spaceship would shift from orientation from up to down when the ship crossed the point where the Moon's gravitation became greater than the Earth's. Is this correct? Defend your answer.

Answer 1

There is no up or down. They are in free fall and accelerating at the same speed as their craft. They seem weightless. Their visial orientation might shift once they got close to either body but form a sensory standpoint, there isn't an up or down.

Answer 2

No it is not correct. Travelling in space there is no up or down. You can point your spaceship in any direction you like and it makes no odds.

As far as defending my answer goes, just see if the astronauts who actually went to the Moon did what Jules Verne suggested. Answer: they didn't.

Answer 3

Nah. Not right. The Fact that astronauts are weightless in space is not beacuse lack of gravity, but beacuse they are in "free fall". The fact that they go around one body or another does not afeect them (though it may affect the trajectory of the spacecraft) It is not only that that "stand still" on the body itself that they feel the gravity. Proof of that is the "zero gravity rides" where thy put you on the cargo bay of a 747 as it dips down. You become weightless becauise you're moving at the same speed as if you were falling (actually you are, but the plane prevents youfrom hitting the groud) so there is no force to attach you to the floor.

Answer 4

Not really. The astronauts are weightless for the entire trip, and when weightless there is no preferred orientation. Even in low Earth orbit, the astronauts are weightless and there is no orientation provided by Earth's gravity.

Answer 5

Incorrect.
Their orientation is to their frame of reference which would be their spacecraft.