Next, use more gunpowder so the cannonball's initial speed is greater. The distance the cannonball travels before hitting the ground will be greater. Now imagine that you have a super cannon that allows you to shoot the cannonball with greater and greater initial horizontal speeds. The ball's trajectory will carry it farther and farther around the Earth before it hits the ground. There is a speed at which the ball will go all the way around the Earth without ever striking the Earth.
Gravity still pulls it down, but as it does, the ball's momentum carries it forward.
The result is that the ball keeps falling around the Earth. The ball is now in orbit. You'd better duck one hour and twenty-four minutes after firing, or the cannonball may hit you in the back of your head. That's how long it takes the cannonball to complete one orbit. The cannonball has become a satellite of the Earth.