Shuttle Launch

This is one of my favorite photos of the space shuttle launching.

You'd think that the shuttle goes straight up, but that wouldn't put it into orbit. Getting into orbit it like firing a cannon ball that "misses" the Earth and just keeps missing. For every 10 feet the Earth's surface curves down, the shuttle drops 10 feet. So, astronauts on the shuttle aren't floating because there's no gravity, but rather because they're in a constant free fall called microgravity.