To all SSEP Mission 18 student microgravity researchers, just before his return to Earth on Soyuz 33S, on May 13, 2013, Expedition 35 International Space Station Commander and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield – the first Canadian to walk in space –released this video. Watch Chris (and his guitar) and see what weightlessness looks like. When watching this movie you’re invited to go to full screen on your computer and turn up the volume – maybe even project it on a large screen in a classroom and turn off the lights.
To all SSEP Mission 18 to ISS Community Program Directors: this Challenge is covered as part of the program start Professional Development videoconference for your community’s Local Team of educators. These videoconferences are being conducted by SSEP National Program Director Dr. Jeff Goldstein.
This blog post is for teachers in the 38 communities across the U.S., Canada and Ukraine that just started SSEP Mission 18 to ISS on September 1, 2023. You are invited to use this Challenge with your students to get them thinking about the concept of microgravity (the technical name for the phenomenon of ‘weightlessness’). As part of this Challenge, students are asked to submit what they think is an answer in the ‘Leave a Reply’ section below. Please encourage your students to submit answers, so that all students visiting this blog post can see what other Mission 18 students across the U.S., Canada, and Ukraine are thinking. Let’s use this blog post as a social media platform for sharing thoughts about microgravity.
The solution to the Challenge will be posted to this SSEP National Blog on Wednesday, September 27, 2023. (extended to allow for more student replies)
From Dr. Jeff Goldstein, Center Director, NCESSE –
I’ve heard a lot about this weightlessness stuff, with astronauts having a great time floating around in space. I’ve even seen astronauts on YouTube videos and in movies (like Chris above), and they’re floating as if they weigh nothing at all. It just seems like maybe there is just no gravity in space? I really need to find out what’s going on up there!
Since they don’t have a spare seat on the next flight to low Earth orbit (at least not yet), I’m going to look far and wide to find an amazingly tall mountain whose peak rises to the Space Station’s altitude in orbit. My plan is to climb to the top of this mountain, look really fast in the big window on the Space Station (it’s called the cupola) as Station flies by my face, and see for myself if the astronauts are floating around.
The Space Station orbits the Earth close to 260 miles (420 km) above sea level, so that’s how high my mountain needs to be. By the way, crew and station are zipping along at 4.7 MILES PER SECOND (7.6 km/sec) relative to you sitting there at your computer. Bam. The Station just moved 4.7 miles. Really. So I’m going to look in that window really really fast!
OK, it took some Googling, but I found that really tall mountain! See my mountain in the picture? It accidentally got captured in an old Space Shuttle photo. Mt. Everest is only 5.5 miles (8.8 km) high. MY mountain (Jeff’s Peak) is 260 miles (420 km) high. I found it south of the Land of Make-Believe, down a not too well traveled path. Still, you’d think someone would have noticed it since it’s 47 times higher than Mt. Everest. (Have you ever heard of Jeff’s peak? No? See, nobody knows about it!)
So this week, I’m going to take the time to climb my mountain, and in my hand is my trusty bathroom scale, spring-loaded and guaranteed to be accurate at any altitude. I’ll camp out at the top, and I’ll wait until the Space Station flies by, so I can look in the window and see if those lucky astronauts are weightless and floating around.
Here now the challenge to YOU—
So here I am on the top of my mountain, and the Space Station just flew by – Hey! They WERE floating around, and appeared totally weightless, just like Chris in the video above! They seem to have no gravity at all! They’re not being pulled down to the floor – in fact there doesn’t seem to be a floor … or a ceiling!
On top of my mountain, at the exact same altitude above Earth as the astronauts (I’m at the exact same location in space as they are), I now step on my bathroom scale to see my weight. If I weigh say 150 lbs when I’m standing on my scale in my bathroom at home, what will I weigh on top of my mountain?
Hint: You don’t actually need to calculate anything. Your assignment—if you decide to accept it—is to just guess what you think I’ll weigh and why. Hmmmm, lots of possibilities.
Submit your guesses below in the ‘Leave a Reply’ section, and remember to include why you think your guess is correct. Students of ALL ages are welcome to post a guess.
I’ll even give you a few days to noodle on this in class, and maybe at home with your parents. I’ll post the answer Monday, September 18, 2023, right here at the SSEP National Blog. See you then, and good luck noodling!
Also – if you want to get an email notification when that Blog Post is up, and follow along with the latest news from the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP), you are invited to subscribe to the SSEP National Blog at the bottom of the right column.
[**Metric system note: in the metric system, weight is measured in Newtons (N). 150 lbs is equivalent to 667 Newtons, which is the weight of a 68 kg mass at Earth’s surface.]
The solution to this challenge will be posted here on September 27, 2023.
The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in the U.S., and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. It is enabled through a strategic partnership with Nanoracks LLC, which is working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory. SSEP is the first pre-college STEM education program that is both a U.S. national initiative and implemented as an on-orbit commercial space venture.
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory, are National Partners on the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.
I think he will weigh a little less than he is but it’s not a massive change because you’re still part of earth’s surface and your weight does not change until you’re out of earth’s atmosphere.
My guess is that you will wieght about 128 pounds because gravity will be less stong becouse you are going away from earth. w
If he weighs 150 pounds in his house he’ll weigh the exact same in space because the astronauts are not weightless. Everything is just floating because of the constant falling and going really fast motion the ISS moves in to stay in orbit.
If you weigh 150 lbs at home and you went to the top of the mountain I think you would weigh the same thing which is 150 lbs. I think you’d weigh the same because your mass isn’t going to disappear but, you will feel lighter due to the microgravity on the top of the mountain. Microgravity will make you feel weightless but your weight is still there. So, therefore you will weigh the same as you would at home, 150 lbs.
he will be lighter then he is on the ground.
In My opinion and what I think he’ll weigh approximately is about 110-115 and the reason I think that it might be around 110-115 is because the gravity on earth is way stronger than it would be on the mountain and because your so high on top of the mountain the gravity will be a lot weaker that it would be on earth because your so much higher on a mountain. Sense your so much higher the gravity will not be as strong.
I think he will weight 150 because you may feel weightless but all your weight is still there even though you may feel like there is no weight or that you lost weight.
i think you will weigh 110
If he weighs 150 pounds in the bathroom then i feel like he would weigh 154 pounds in the mountains cause of the gravity.
in my opinion i think he would weigh the same because his weight isn’t going anywhere it is just staying there. it isnt going anywhere
i like the video
I think he will weight 150 because your weight doesn’t change if you’re in space, it only feels like it because you are weightless.
I think that he will weight the same amount of weight because even though you feel weightless your weight he still there you just can’t feel like because of weightless gravity
I think he will weight 148 because the weight in space is only a little weaker and even you feel weightless there’s still weight.
I think he will weight 150 because his weight won’t matter, you’ll feel weightless but you will still have your normal weight.
If he weighs 150 pounds in his house he’ll weigh the exact same in space because the astronauts are not weightless. Everything is just floating because of the constant falling and going really fast motion the ISS moves in to stay in orbit.
In my opinion i think his weight will be 110 because even though you feel and look weight less there is still a little gravity in space.
I think he will weight like about 130lbs because you are away from earth’s surface but you feel like you lost weight. I think that he will feel a ldifferent since he will be on a mountain because it is higher so the gravity might not be as strong as it is in earth.
I think he will weigh around 130 because he gets further from earth and the gravity is different at jeff’s peak then if you were standing here on earth.
I think he will weight 112-120 on the mountain because gravity is like if you where in a bollon you weight nothing but on top of the moutain there could be more gravity then in space that why i think he will weight 112-120 on the mountain.
I think he will weigh the same on the mountain because he has the same mass microgravity just makes you feel weightless.
I believe he will weigh the same because I learned that you are fall with the ISS so it creates the effect of weightlessness.
I think it would be 24.75lbs in space
I think he will weigh the same because it just makes you feel weightless.
I think he will weigh about 120
I think that he will weigh the exact same
your weight might be 100 to 120 because your not to close to espace and your standing in the top og the mountain and not in space so its not going to be the same.
i think that he weigh like a mountain because it is not like the earth.
If he were to weight 150 in his bathtub at home.He would weight just the same at his destination.
he will weigh the same because how would they go lower or higher if they are weightless they might feel weightless but they would be the same.
128 because hes weight changes in space due to gravity
I think he will weigh 156 pounds.
I believe he weight 150 because they are weightless and while it being weighless its still weight his normal weight.
I think he’ll weigh the 90-110 because he’s half way up in space so he would be lighter he wouldn’t being space he’ll just be lifted up.
I think he will still weigh 150 lb because even though you may feel weightless he still have your exact weight and mass.
i think he might not weight the same 172 because in space it feels like your falling so basically
so i would most likely weigh the same as i would in my bathroom my example look at the iss it weigh a few ton and seem weightless in space so if it weigh a few ton and im 172 no matter how much i weigh il still float ill still be the same weight as i am on earth
He would weigh 150 Ib, for he is not completely weightless and instead just feels weightless. Also, he is technically still in Earth’s atmosphere, not space. You’re still going to weigh something because Earth’s gravity will keep you down. Furthermore you’ll still weigh 150 Ibs on Earth’s land and in space.
so i would most likely weigh the same as i would in my bathroom my example look at the iss it weigh a few ton and seem weightless in space so if it weigh a few ton and im 172 no matter how much i weigh il still float ill still be the same weight as i am on earth