---
title: "The International Space Station has a mass of \\(4.2 \\times 10^{5} \\, \\text{kg}\\) and orbits Earth at a distance of \\(4.0 \\times 10^{2} \\, \\text{km}\\) above the surface. Earth has a radius of \\(6.37 \\times 10^{6} \\, \\text{m}\\) and a mass of \\(5.97 \\times 10^{24} \\, \\text{kg}\\). Calculate the following:"
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url: "https://nerd-notes.com/ubq/19561/"
date_modified: "2025-09-23T03:42:58+00:00"
---

# The International Space Station has a mass of \(4.2 \times 10^{5} \, \text{kg}\) and orbits Earth at a distance of \(4.0 \times 10^{2} \, \text{km}\) above the surface. Earth has a radius of \(6.37 \times 10^{6} \, \text{m}\) and a mass of \(5.97 \times 10^{24} \, \text{kg}\). Calculate the following:

The International Space Station has a mass of \(4.2 \times 10^{5} \, \text{kg}\) and orbits Earth at a distance of \(4.0 \times 10^{2} \, \text{km}\) above the surface. Earth has a radius of \(6.37 \times 10^{6} \, \text{m}\) and a mass of \(5.97 \times 10^{24} \, \text{kg}\). Calculate the following:

**Part a)** The gravitational force between Earth and the ISS. *(2 points)*

**Part b)** The orbital speed of the ISS. *(2 points)*

**Part c)** The orbital period of the ISS (in minutes) *(3 points)*


*The answer key and step-by-step explanation are available to logged-in users at https://nerd-notes.com/ubq/19561/*