Earth orbit
Satellite's endless path
Earth orbit is the curved path an object follows as it travels around Earth, held by gravity.
Satellites, space stations, and the Moon all travel in Earth orbit.
The term also describes the region of space where such paths occur: The telescope was placed in Earth orbit.
Different altitudes produce different orbital characteristics—low Earth orbit for crewed missions, geostationary orbit for communications satellites.
- satelliteOrbiting celestial body
- spacecraftVehicle for outer space
- space stationOrbiting crewed research facility
- ISSOrbiting multinational research facility
- astronautSpacecraft crew member
space walk · zero gravity · weightless · microgravity · mission control · trajectory · altitude · apogee · perigee · rocket · launch · escape velocity · reentry · station · module · debris · space junk · Hubble telescope
- orbital termsaphelion, perihelion, apogee, perigee, eccentricity
- solar systemsun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus
- orbital mechanicseccentricity, inclination, apogee, perigee, epoch
- Astrophotographyastrophotography, star trails, eclipse photos, Hubble images, deep sky
- Space ShuttlesAtlantis, Challenger, Columbia, Discovery, Endeavour
Earth orbitdeep space
Remote regions beyond planets
interstellar space · intergalactic space · interplanetary space · interplanetary travel · solar orbit
Earth orbitterrestrial
Relating to land
sea level · underground · subterranean · grounded · ground
earth, orbit, earthy, earthly, earthen, earthling, unearthly, earths, orbits