Views: 228
SCP: 7
7 upvotes, 0 downvotes (100% upvoted it)
~31 user(s) here now
NSFW: No
Authorized: No
Anon: No
Private: No
Type: Default
view the rest of the comments →
[–] Carsandsarcasm [S] ago
I have never gotten around to watching the ISS fly over. It's such a simple thing I never bother to do. Speaking of satellites, this picture always blows my mind. I'm sure they are quite far apart in reality, but there is a lot of crap up there.
I believe the direction does matter, though I'm talking out of my butt a little bit on this one. I know that the fact that the Earth and the moon are tidally locked is because there is a force exerted between them that, once they do tidally lock, drags them back to being locked whenever they try to split. I would guess that this force applies to the ISS and putting it in rotation with the earth reduces the "drag."
I also imagine it's more convenient for the astronauts to not be radically shifting time zones in the opposite direction. The ISS would probably be in a geosynchronous orbit to keep them on a regular schedule with the people on the ground if it wasn't that they like it moving around so they can see different areas. That would be my guess.