A well-thrown baseball
Conceptually, the flights that Branson and Bezos will likely be on aren’t terribly totally different from a baseball thrown into the air.
The sooner you possibly can throw the baseball upward, the upper it is going to go and the longer it is going to keep within the air. If you throw the ball with a little bit of sideways velocity as properly, it is going to go farther down-range.
Imagine throwing your baseball in an open area. As the ball rises, it slows down, because the kinetic power inherent in its velocity is exchanged for potential power within the type of elevated altitude. Eventually the ball will attain its most peak after which fall again to the bottom.
Now think about that you might throw the baseball quick sufficient to achieve a peak of maybe 60 miles (97 km). Presto! The baseball has reached space. But when the ball reaches its most peak, it is going to have zero vertical velocity and begin to fall again to Earth.
The flight might take a number of minutes, and through most of that point the ball would experience near weightlessness – as will the newly minted astronauts aboard these spacecraft. Just just like the hypothetical baseball, the astronauts will attain space however gained’t enter orbit, so their flights will likely be suborbital.
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