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by crimsonalucard 2748 days ago
Orbiting a planet is basically free fall with translational velocity. If the earth were flat we would fall down and horizontally and eventually hit the ground.

However the earth is a sphere and the direction of the free-fall constantly adjusts itself to point towards the center of the sphere creating an orbit.

It is literally throwing oneself at the ground and missing.

1 comments

I have no idea what's up with HN lately. Your comment is completely correct... and downvoted? This site is starting to become more like Reddit everyday.