at what speed does the space station travel
It's true - the ISS moves at about 17,000 mph (~28,000 kph). Now for your other questions: 1. When it's not using its onboard engines to adjust its orbit, the station is in free-fall*. This means that gravitational interaction with the earth maintains the station's orbit, and thus its speed.
The altitude of the ISS varies day to day; periodically, they 'boost' it's altitude with either on-board engines, or make use of one of the PROGRESS ferry modules or even the Shuttle's engines. It's altitude varies from 319.6 km to 346.9 km above the surface of the Earth (approximately 199 miles to 215 miles). It travels at an average speed of 27,744 km (17,240 miles) per hour, completing 15.7 orbits per day. quantumclaustrophobe Â· 9 years ago.