Gravity , Weightlessness, free fall ??

Mayby one of you Gentlemen can settle this Question my brother and I seem to have; We know objects here on earth do not float in mid-air, simply because Earth's Gravity is pushing on them. Even on the surface of the Moon where this force is about 1/6 that of Earth's objects still fall.
Question in point; On earth a person in a elevator that is in free fall from the 100th. floor lets go of his/hers brief case, the case does not fall to the floor of the elevator, it floats in mid-air because it is falling the same speed as you & the Elevator. We are wondering if this is the same phenomenon that occurs at "MECO" (Main Engine Cut-Off.) when the Space Shuttle enters Orbit around Earth.
In other words, are the Astronauts falling, round & round..
and objects in the cockpit are "floating" (falling) ?? My brother's contention is that they are free from earth's Gravitational field, and that they are not falling. Also if instead of remaining in Orbit the Commander opts for the two day journey to the Moon, does the crew remain weightless? The Shuttle is traveling aprox. 17K Miles an hour, there must be some effect on floating objects if the Rocket engines are engaged.. Appreciate any light you can shed on this question... John & Darwin

In orbit, you're falling around and around. You're not 'free' of Earth's gravity at all, in low-Earth orbit the strength of gravity is actually close to what it is on the ground. You don't feel it because orbit is a free-fall state, you're falling toward the ground, but you're traveling sideways fast enough that the ground falls away (due to Earth's curvature) at exactly the same rate. If the ground were smooth enough, i.e. no hills or valleys, it would in theory be possible to enter a very, very low orbit just by running extremely fast.

Taking a detour toward the Moon you curve outward in an orbit of constantly increasing radius until you pass the midpoint and begin to enter lunar orbit.

Are astronauts traveling to the moon weightless? Does the same gravity that keeps the moon in orbit act on the astronauts? If a spacecraft were to become motionless relative to the sun would the sun's gravity act on it.