The Gravity Of The Situation

There is no gravity in space

Blame the term “zero-gravity” for this common misconception. Gravity is everywhere, even in space. Astronauts look weightless because they are in continuous free fall towards the Earth, staying aloft because of their horizontal motion. The effect of gravity diminishes with distance, but it never truly goes away. Oh, and while we’re at it, it’s also untrue that space is a vacuum. There are all kinds of atoms out there, albeit sometimes far apart (and this thin gas adds to the collective gravity budget, too!)