Why do astronauts feel weightless in orbit?

Astronauts in orbit are not beyond gravity; Earth’s gravity at ISS altitude is still about 90 percent as strong as on the ground. They feel weightless because the station and everything inside it are falling around Earth at the same rate. Since there is no floor pushing up against them in the usual way, they experience microgravity. This is why objects float and astronauts must use handholds. The sensation is very different from being in deep space, but the physics is the same principle of free fall.