History of Weightlessness

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	Revision 12 . . November 6, 2001 10:29 am by (logged).123.179.xxx *[added some more. orbits and escape velocity belong in a different article, however, about planetary motion.]**
	Revision 11 . . (edit) November 6, 2001 10:17 am by (logged).123.179.xxx *[rearranging a sentence.]**
	Revision 10 . . (edit) November 6, 2001 10:16 am by (logged).123.179.xxx *[fixed logical error]**
	Revision 9 . . November 6, 2001 6:40 am by Sodium [removed my note since virtually none of page was written by me anymore :-)]
	Revision 8 . . (edit) November 6, 2001 5:50 am by (logged).123.179.xxx *[cleanup.]**
	Revision 7 . . November 6, 2001 5:48 am by (logged).123.179.xxx *[full, accurate explanation given. could use some writing improvements and some more details. removed incorrect bits.]**
	Revision 6 . . (edit) November 6, 2001 5:20 am by DrBob [add "microgravity"]
	Revision 5 . . (edit) November 6, 2001 4:27 am by (logged).128.164.xxx [linked velocity]
	Revision 4 . . November 6, 2001 3:20 am by Damian Yerrick [proportionality constants; copyediting]
	Revision 3 . . November 6, 2001 3:01 am by (logged).123.179.xxx *[expanded explaination of normal force a bit. ]**
	Revision 2 . . (edit) November 5, 2001 11:15 pm by Sodium
	Revision 1 . . November 5, 2001 11:11 pm by Sodium [initial article. NEEDS TO BE CHECKED though.]

Difference (from prior major revision) (author diff)

Added: 7a8,11

So any time something is in free fall (under the influence of no forces but gravity) it experiences weightlessness. NASA uses this to great advantage on an airplane affectionately called the "vomit comet", an airplane that NASA flies in 6 mile long arcs, climbing in altitude then cutting its engines to enter free fall. (does the plane pull up because of altitude or because it hits terminal velocity and thus loses weightlessness?).

To achieve weightlessness for a more extended period of time requires a little more creativity. The two simplest ways to explain of achieving permanent free fall are to either enter a circular orbit or to achieve escape velocity. Eliptical orbits are the easiest to actually achieve, but are require more mathematics and physics to understand.