This same force pulls on Hubble, even hundreds of miles up. If you swing a yo-yo around in a circle, the string keeps it from flying off. The Earth's gravitational pull is like a string that holds Hubble in its orbit. Hubble orbits the Earth about every 96 minutes, or every 1 hours. The fastest human ran a 3-minute mile.
Friction causes the decline of speed.
The ground actually slows you down, whereas, in the vacuum of space, there is very little friction to hold back Hubble's speed. Just like keeping a spare tire in a car, it's smart to have spare gyros on Hubble if others break. The gyros are part of a system that points the telescope at stars. Gyros sense and report the telescope's position. Hubble has six gyros, and three of these are spares.