Virginia Lee Crabtree, age 12, of Peoria, Illinois, for her question:

Does the earth turn us upright during the daytime?

Let's take an imaginary space trip, say about halfway to the planet Mars. From here we see our earth as it really is    as a round globe surrounded on every side by the vast ocean of space. On a cosmic scale, all sides of the globe face up and out. This does not change as the earth rotates through its day and night. The same is true on a planetary scale. When our spaceship returns us safely home, naturally we land on the surface of the globe. Whenever we land, that spot faces up and out toward the ocean of space.

On earth we get our bearings from the North and South Poles at opposite ends of the axis. As the earth rotates around its axis toward the east, it gives us our day and night vistas of outer space. But on the surface, in Peoria or Australia or anywhere else, the downward direction is always toward the same spot in the very center of the globe. The rotating earth changes our view of the heavens    but it does not change the down direction. It does not stand us on our heads during the night and turn us upright during the day    because everywhere, down is always toward the same spot in the center of the globe.