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