When an astronaut is on a spacewalk and is moving away from the space shuttle how does the force of gravity between the two objects change

1 answer

As an astronaut moves away from the space shuttle during a spacewalk, the force of gravity between the two objects decreases. This is because the force of gravity is directly proportional to the distance between two objects and inversely proportional to the square of that distance, according to Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation.

As the astronaut moves further away from the space shuttle, the distance between them increases. Since the force of gravity decreases with increasing distance, the gravitational force pulling the astronaut towards the shuttle becomes weaker.

However, it is important to note that even as the force of gravity decreases, it never truly reaches zero. The gravitational force still exists between the astronaut and the space shuttle, but it becomes weaker as the distance increases.