Re: The BBC report on Chinese orbital "slip".

On 14 Oct 2005 10:41:43 -0700, "Allen Thomson" <thomsona@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote, in part:
>neil.fraser@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

>> For those who missed it, the story used to include gems such as:
>> "Shenzhou VI, which has two astronauts on board, is in a low enough
>> orbit to be affected by the Earth's gravitational pull."

>But, but, but -- it's true! Literally, completely, incontestably
>true, every last word. :-)

As your smiley indicates, even if true, it is misleading; it implies
that it would not be affected by the Earth's gravitational pull if in a
slightly higher orbit.

To be in orbit, of course, means that the Earth's gravitational pull is
there, preventing you from going in a straight line - and, of course, it
also means one is in free fall.

But if they were to say it was in a low enough orbit to be affected by
the resistance of the atmosphere, that would have a chance to be
meaningful and not misleading. And some acceleration would be
experienced within the craft!

John Savard
http://home.ecn.ab.ca/~jsavard/index.html
http://www.quadibloc.com/index.html
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