Most skydivers jump off a plane flying 3.8 kilometers above the ground. But imagine jumping off something even higher, like the International Space Station. Unless you have a super suit like Tony Stark, it's not gonna end well. But let's pretend Ironman lends you one. Okay, ready? Three, two, one, jump! Wait, what? That's right, you won't fall straight down. In fact, it'll take you at least two and a half years before you reach the surface. So, what's going on? Height isn't the main reason your fall takes so long. In fact, if you fell like a normal skydiver, it would only take you about 2 hours. But the thing is, you don't fall straight down, you fall into orbit. The reason is speed. You see, the ISS might be called the station, but it's hardly stationary. It's actually moving 12 times faster than a jet fighter. If you shot anything at that speed on Earth, by the time it was about to hit the ground, it would miss. In the same way, the ISS isn't floating in space, it's falling towards Earth and missing. And when you jump off the ISS, you're initially moving at the same speed, so you end up in orbit - at least for a while. Now, even though it's so high up, the ISS is pushing through a very thin atmosphere, so that friction against the atmosphere slows it down. So the station fires engines to maintain speed and keep from crashing into the Earth. But sadly, your super suit doesn't come with engines strapped to your feet. This has two consequences. First, it means you can't maneuver and have to hope that any of those 13,000 chunks of space debris don't impale you. Second, without rockets to maintain your speed, it'll slow...
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