Xkcd explains orbital speed in a much detailed explanation. https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ The gist is that gravity pulls you. To g

Xkcd explains orbital speed in a much detailed explanation. https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ The gist is that gravity pulls you. To go to space you have to escape gravity. Even if you go thousands of miles above earth, gravity will still pull you. To counteract gravity, you need to go really fast sideways. When you spin a ball attached to a string, the faster you spin, the more the ball pulls the string away from your hand. If you spin it really really fast, the string breaks eventually and the ball flies away. The string is gravity.