In accord to the Newton's Law of the Universal Gravitation, the gravitational force depends on the distance between the objects, but not only. It also depends upon their masses . When we are close to the Earth we experience weight. We also observe the ocean tides, huge water waves which periodically rise and decrease the level of water at any seashore twice a day. Scientists say that it is the evidence of the gravitational attraction from the Moon.
Ocean tides run along the oceans as our globe spins.
It might be that astronauts, their spaceship and the stuff in it, being much smaller objects and being located at huge distances from the Earth, experience a very diminished weight and so they are practically weightless in space. Gravitational attraction, Weight, Tides, Weightlessness. A debate on the subject should encorage students to reconsider their view. Ocean tides are often misinterpreted as an evidence of the gravitational pull itself. This might also cause a confusion in interpretation of weighlessness.