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Because astronauts orbiting the earth rotate around it much faster than the rest of us (once every 90 minutes or so rather than once a day) the effect of the Coriolis effect would be correspondingly stronger. Ordinarily, this force would still be too weak for astronauts to notice. However, because astronauts feel "zero gravity" (because they are falling towards the earth at the same rate as their ship) there are some situations in which the Coriolis effect might be more obvious to them; for example, objects floating in midair might slowly float back and forth* with a period equal to the ship's orbit time.

*Technical discussion follows* Objects would actually follow elliptical or sinusoidal paths, and this floating effect would actually be a combination of three different effects: the Coriolis effect, along with the "centrifugal force", and the actual gravity of the earth. Whereas the Coriolis force depends on the velocity of a moving object, the last two effects vary slightly according to the radial distance from the center of the earth, and would therefore be most noticeable above or below the center of gravity of the spacecraft. For example, an astronaut resting above the spacecraft's center of mass would first begin falling (very slowly) towards the earth due to the decrease in centrifugal force with greater turning radius. Once moving, the astronaut would be affected by the Coriolis force, and pushed (very slowly) towards the front end of the spacecraft. Maximum drift speeds wouldn't exceed 1 cm/s for the even the largest rooms in the international space station.

That said, I'm not an astronaut, and I don't know if astronauts have ever noticed this faint effect or not. I just did the math.

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11y ago
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4mo ago

In space, astronauts are not directly affected by the Coriolis effect because it is a phenomenon that occurs due to the rotation of the Earth. However, spacecraft and satellites may need to account for the Coriolis effect when planning trajectories or adjusting orbits.

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Q: How does the coriolis effect affect astronauts in space?
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