I always liked this picture. Suppose you’re in a space suit, orbiting around the Earth. Gravity keeps you continually free- falling ‘down’ towards the surface below you. But, in orbit, you also have a velocity that’s tangent to the Earth’s surface. So while you’re falling, because that velocity is just right, the surface is curving away from you at the same rate!

So you remain at the same distance from the surface, and the ‘pull’ of gravity remains the same … orbit!