The Apollo astronauts on their way to and from the Moon were still in an Earth orbit, still “falling around Earth.” When close to the Moon, they fell under its gravitational tug and entered lunar orbit, thus falling around our natural satellite in the same way. ... In each case, astronauts experience free fall.

Do astronauts still have weight if they feel weightless?

In space, astronauts and their spaceship still have mass and are still acted upon by Earth's gravity. In this sense, they still have weight, even though Earth's gravitational force is smaller in orbit than it is on Earth's surface (Box 1). However, they do not feel their weight because nothing is pushing back on them.

What is the real reason astronauts seem weightless?

Earth-orbiting astronauts are weightless for the same reasons that riders of a free-falling amusement park ride or a free-falling elevator are weightless. They are weightless because there is no external contact force pushing or pulling upon their body. In each case, gravity is the only force acting upon their body.