Can you fly under the earth?

Question

i mean like when people go into a spaceship and fly in space is it possible to fly UNDER the earth and by under i mean below the south pole?

Answer 1

Uh... yes.

Answer 2

Of course.

Answer 3

Sure, lots of satellites have polar orbits which take them 'over' the north pole and 'under' the south. Of course, the terms over and under really have no meaning in space.

Answer 4

To be under the south pole you need to dig a hole and go below the surface. But space craft can and do fly over the ground at the South pole (and every other place on Earth).

The South pole is not the bottom of Earth or under the Earth. Under implies going down and down is the direction that things fall, and on Earth all things fall toward the center of the planet. At the South pole things fall north, so if you are south of the south pole, you are in the air (or in space) above the south pole, not below it.

The ideas of up or down have no meaning in outer space. The idea that south is down is just a map making rule most people follow. We could just as easily make all our maps and globes with the south pole at the top, but by convention we put the north pole at the top. But that has no physical meaning of up and down. It is just a rule, like writing words and letters starting at the left side of the page and writing to the right across the paper. Different languages do it differently. Chinese starts at the top and writes in columns going down for example.

Answer 5

Well actually - in space there is no up or down so technically no you could'nt fly under the Earth. However you could fly around it or fly past it.

Answer 6

Certainly

Any aerial photo of Antarctica is taken by a plane that is flying (as you call it) "under the earth"

You are aware, I imagine, that if you're standing on the antarctic, you do not feel like you're upside down.

Answer 7

Many satellites are in polar orbits - this means they go all the way around the earth in space, passing over both north and south poles.  As others have said, our concept of 'up' and 'down' only relate to experience on earth.  'Down' is always in the direction of the earth's centre, not an absolute direction.  If it really meant going 'under' the earth, then all people in the southern hemisphere would be hanging on for dear life!

Answer 8

Yeah, its not like there will be magnetic interference so that your ship will crash.

Answer 9

What part of orbiting the earth do you not understand?

Answer 10

You don't even need a space ship.  People from the Northern Hemisphere do it every time they fly to Australia or New Zealand.

Answer 11

yes of course you can. P Earth is suspended in space by its rotation and gravity pull of the sun keeping it in orbit of the sun. and to a lesser existent the planets also pull the earth though not as much as the sun.

I'm no phyics teacher so I might be corrected.

Answer 12

There is no up or down...

Answer 13

I think so.  We could fly anywhere in space, within reason.