I like to think of this in terms of [escape velocity][1].

Escape velocity is the speed needed to escape the gravitational pull of a given object. For the Earth, that speed is 11.2 km/second (Mach 34!). When rockets blast off from Earth, they aren't trying to achieve a certain height or altitude, they're trying to reach a certain speed, the escape velocity.

Once a rocket reaches 11.2 kips*, it has attained [the speed needed][2] to leave the Earth completely. If a rocket fails to attain that speed, regardless of its height, it will fall back to the Earth. (You can imagine a magical balloon that slowly lifts you up into space, up past the ISS and most satellites, and then you let go: since you aren't going fast enough, you will fall back down, past all the satellites, and crash into the earth.)

Smaller gravitational bodies, like the moon, have smaller escape velocities. That's why the moon landers were able to leave the moon with such a small rocket, compared to the Saturn V it took to leave earth: they only had to go 2.4 km/second. To escape the Sun, you'd have to go 617.5 km/second!

Fortunately for us, light goes faster than 617.5 kips, so we're able to see the light created on the Sun. However, as you increase the mass of an object, eventually the escape velocity would meet or exceed 299,792km/s, the speed of light. At that point not even light itself can go fast enough to escape the gravity well, and will always be pulled back down into the black hole.

*"kips" just means "kilometers per second." [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_velocity [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_velocity#List_of_escape_velocities

I like to think of this in terms of escape velocity.

Escape velocity is the speed needed to escape the gravitational pull of a given object. For the Earth, that speed is 11.2 km/second (Mach 34!). When rockets blast off from Earth, they aren't trying to achieve a certain height or altitude, they're trying to reach a certain speed, the escape velocity.

Once a rocket reaches 11.2 kips*, it has attained the speed needed to leave the Earth completely. If a rocket fails to attain that speed, regardless of its height, it will fall back to the Earth. (You can imagine a magical balloon that slowly lifts you up into space, up past the ISS and most satellites, and then you let go: since you aren't going fast enough, you will fall back down, past all the satellites, and crash into the earth.)

Smaller gravitational bodies, like the moon, have smaller escape velocities. That's why the lunar landers were able to leave the moon with such a small ascent stage, compared to the massive Saturn V it took to leave Earth: they only had to go 2.4 km/second.

To escape the Sun, you'd have to go 617.5 km/second!

Fortunately for us, light goes faster than 617.5 kips, so we're able to see the light created on the Sun. However, as you increase the mass of an object, eventually the escape velocity would meet or exceed 299,792km/s, the speed of light. At that point not even light itself can go fast enough to escape the gravity well, and will always be pulled back down into the black hole.

*Short for "ki​lometers p​er s​econd"