It’s been a while since I took physics in college, but if I remember correctly, due to the law of conservation of energy, as you gain altitude from the earth, your speed increases. Particularly, even if you are moving up at a very slow rate, your total speed (including the angular component) will nevertheless correspond to the level of kinetic energy that must be shared by all bodies at your present altitude. Furthermore, upon reaching the gravitational “point of no return” the sum of all the components of your speed will necessarily be equal or greater than the escape speed. You could even stop propelling yourself upwards completely just 1 nanometer past this altitude, but you would nevertheless have an angular speed slightly larger than the escape speed (of earth), and would therefore drift off into the void, probably to be gobbled up by the gravitational pull of the sun or jupiter. Chronos’ post seems to imply that you don’t need to achieve escape speed to leave the surly bonds of earth’s gravity well.
The original column, and another thread where it’s already being discussed.
I’m afraid that it has been a while since you’ve taken physics, since this is, so far as I can tell, completely incorrect. As you gain altitude, your speed is going to decrease, not increase, unless there’s something else besides gravity acting to increase your speed. Depending on such extra forces and upon the initial conditions, one can have any speed at all at any point in space, and there is no magic height above which you’re guaranteed to escape the Earth. Finally, angular speed is a different sort of quantity to speed, and is completely irrelevant to this discussion.