Orbit | Center-to-center distance | Altitude above the Earth’s surface | Speed | Orbital period | Specific orbital energy |
Standing on Earth’s surface at the equator (for comparison―not an orbit) | 6378 km | 0 km | 456.1 m/s (1674 km/h or 1040 mph) | 23 h 56 m | −62.6 MJ/kg |
Orbiting at Earth’s surface (equator) | 6378 km | 0 km | 7.9 km/s (28,440 km/h or 17,672 mph) | 1 h 24 m 18 s | −31.2 MJ/kg |
Low Earth orbit | 6600 - 8400 km | 200 - 2000 km | Circular orbit: 7.8 - 6.9 km/s (17,450 - 14,430 mph) respectively elliptic orbit 6.5 - 8.2 km/s respectively | 1 h 29 m - 2 h 8 m | −29.6 MJ/kg |
Molniya orbit | 6900 - 46,300 km | 500 - 39,900 km | 1.5 - 19.9 km/s (3335 - 22,370 mph) respectively | 11 h 58 m | −4.7 MJ/kg |
Geostationary | 42,000 km | 35,786 km | 3.1 km/s (6935 mph) | 23 h 56 m | −4.6 MJ/kg |
Orbit of the Moon | 363,000 - 406,000 km | 357,000 - 399,000 km | 0.97 - 1.08 km/s (2170 - 2416 mph) respectively | 27.3 days | −0.5 MJ/kg |