What is gravity anyway?

How come we can feel the same sensation as gravitational pull just by accelerating a spaceship in a vacuum not near any massive body at all?

How come when you are on the international space station with about 99% of the gravity at the surface of the earth, do you feel weightless just because you are falling – at constant speed – towards the earth?

I admit I’m confused. Stationary near a mass – gravity. Falling at constant speed towards a mass – no gravity. Accelerating no-where near a mass, gravity.
Actually I should replace “gravity” in the above sentence with “sensation of weight” and it would all make sense.

I was driven to think about this because of a fabulous (if very dark) series of science fiction books I am reading – The Expanse by James A Corey. The ships in there have crash-couches not unlike the one the robot is in. No wonder he doesn’t feel anything

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