My understanding of General Relativity[1] is that mass distorts space-time, so an object traveling in a "straight line" through distorted space-time will curve

My understanding of General Relativity[1] is that mass distorts space-time, so an object traveling in a "straight line" through distorted space-time will curve with that distortion. If the object's velocity isn't enough to traverse the curved space-time, it will move toward the center of the mass generating the distortion and fall out of the sky. If the object is traveling quickly enough, it can continue traversing the distorted space-time and orbit that mass. If the object is traveling even more quickly, it will traverse the distorted space-time and continue on without orbiting the mass. In all three cases, from the perspective of the object traversing the distorted space-time, it continues to travel in a straight line, as it's the space-time that's distorted. A (flawed) analogy would be riding a bicycle between the peaks of two identically sized hills. Starting at the top of the first hill, you coast down increasing your velocity. Once you reach the bottom of the first hill and head up the second, your velocity decreases. If your velocity at the bottom of the first hill is too small, you'll go up the second hill and as your velocity reaches zero, you roll back toward the bottom of the hill. You will pick up velocity and then roll back up the first hill, then down again, then back up the second, etc. until you end up stopped at the bottom of the hill. This is akin to falling to the center of the distorting mass. If your velocity is high enough to carry you back up to the top of the second hill and then stop, you'll roll back down and get to the bottom with the same velocity you had coming down the first hill. You'll then oscillate between the tops of both hills. This is akin to orbiting the mass. If your velocity at the bottom of the first hill is enough to carry you past the top of the second hill, you'll just keep going after reaching the top of the second hill. That's akin to flying by the mass. It's a flawed analogy, because in a curved space-time the directional portion of the motion vector doesn't change. As John Wheeler[0] simplified it: "Mass tells space-time how to curve, and space-time tells mass how to move." [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Archibald_Wheeler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Archibald_Wheeler [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_relativity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_relativity