"The corners of this astronaut's jacket seem to be in a very different environment.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TejsnPThmd4 "

That's correct. The space station is actually in orbit (free fall). We expect zero-g there, even though it's (much) closer to Earth! Apparently, the STS was also orbiting when that video was taken.


"I can't identify any force other than gravity that would make it go back down."

Look at first paragraph at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivalence_principle


The implication is that locally, gravitation is indistinguishable from acceleration. That is, if the vehicle is accelerating, it will be indistinguishable from gravitation.


Fake moon landing guy demonstrates Galileo's principle of equivalence:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/image/featherdrop_sound.mov



Last edited by TheFallibleFiend; 12/03/09 07:20 PM.