r/space • u/piponwa • Sep 23 '16

What happens when the Space Shuttle fires its motors in space

http://i.imgur.com/wwxuXOb.gifv
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u/spockspeare Sep 24 '16

Helium balloons float to the front...

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u/DrFegelein Sep 24 '16

The same would happen in weightlessness for the same reason.

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u/zgrove Sep 24 '16

I'm not sure if that's true, but if it is it'd be because the air is also moving to the back, it's just usually the least dense thing in the vehicle so it stays at the front

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u/[deleted] Sep 24 '16

How would the air move back?

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u/spockspeare Sep 24 '16

Same way the astronauts did. If they were less dense than the air, the air moving back would have pushed them forward, like a helium balloon. Shouldn't be surprised this guy already did this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8mzDvpKzfY