{"id":13363,"date":"2025-01-15T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=13363"},"modified":"2024-12-17T02:50:21","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T02:50:21","slug":"international-space-station-orbit-earth-without-burning-up-january-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/international-space-station-orbit-earth-without-burning-up-january-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"How does the International Space Station orbit Earth without burning up?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n The International Space Station orbits Earth.\n NASA\/Roscosmos<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n Kelly Griendling<\/a>, Georgia Institute of Technology<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n
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Curious Kids<\/a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

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How is the International Space Station able to orbit without burning up? \u2013 Mateo, age 8, New York, New York<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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Flying through Earth\u2019s orbit are thousands of satellites and two operational space stations, including the International Space Station, which weighs as much as 77 elephants. The International Space Station<\/a>, or ISS, hosts scientists and researchers from around the world as they contribute to discoveries in medicine, microbiology, Earth and space science, and more. <\/p>\n\n

One of my first jobs in aerospace engineering was working on the ISS, and the ISS remains one of my favorite aerospace systems. I now work at Georgia Tech, where I teach aerospace engineering<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The ISS travels very quickly around the Earth at 5 miles per second (8 kilometers per second), which means it could fly from Atlanta to London in 14 minutes. But at the same time, small chunks of rock called meteoroids shoot through space and burn up when they hit Earth\u2019s atmosphere. How is it that some objects \u2013 such as the International Space Station \u2013 orbit the Earth unscathed, while others, such as asteroids, burn up?<\/p>\n\n

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