terminal velocity is over 200 MPH here on earth in a free fall. however the rate of decay ( how fast your falling )in space is far less. it would take years to fall all the way back to earth. that is why satellites stay up there so long.the reason things become weightless is because the shuttle and the mass inside it all fall at the same rate.so that means the gravitational pull inside the shuttle is equal to zero because everything is falling together.......
Just remember that when you are not touching anything you feel weightless, and when 2 things are moving at the speed, nothing is touching.
I hope this helps :)
that isn't totally accurate there is a little more to it then that. its in free fall yes but not like a free fall on earth. on earth your free fall rate is far far more faster then it is in space. terminal velocity is over 200 MPH here on earth in a free fall. however the rate of decay ( how fast your falling ) in space is far less. it would take years to fall all the way back to earth. that is why satellites stay up there so long. the reason things become weightless is because the shuttle and the mass inside it all fall at the same rate. so that means the gravitational pull inside the shuttle is equal to zero because everything is falling together. take the training aircraft the astronauts ride in. it goes up dives rapidly and the people inside experience weightlessness. is the plane falling at terminal velocity? No. its just that the mass inside of the plane is falling at the same rate as the plane so the gravity inside that space becomes equal to zero. so as you fall at the same rate as the plane your relative wight to that plane is zero. the same thing happens in space just at a much much slower rate. but since the shuttle is falling. it doesn't matter how fast or how slow. its falling and so are you. since you are traveling at the same speed as the shuttle your relative wight to the shuttle is equal to zero. dose that make more since? still confused take a small bucket and a golf ball. hold the golf ball inside the bucket in teh middle not touching anything. drop the ball and the bucket at the same time. the ball and the bucket will fall together but the ball will stay in the center of the bucket not touching anything. almost floating in place. and in relation to the falling bucket it is. both objects are falling yes. but since they are both falling at the same speed the relative rate of fall between them is the same. so the amount of gravity acting on the bucket and the ball is exactly the same. so the ball inside of the bucket has no gravity acting upon it in relation to that bucket. the bucket stops the ball slams into the bottom of the bucket. get it yet? in space everything is relative. for example. the earth moves through space at about 23,000 miles per hour. you are standing on earth so you are also moving 23,000 miles per hour. but since you and the earth are moving at the exact same rate your speed is equal to zero in relation to the earth. the same concept is applied to the free fall thing in space. its the same concept of relativity. its just referring to rate of decay rather then rate of travel. but the concept is the same. i know it sounds confusing but i really isn't if you think about it.
