Space Pods make people stop floating away in space.

[Captain_Bravo]

The pod doesn't act like a person, it acts like an object. If you push a crate or locked locker into someone, it doesn't move them forward, same thing with a pod. When you move the pod directly beside them, the game sees that there is an immovable object beside them, and stops their motion through space, same way if they flew too close to an asteroid or wall. Not a bug, just how the game works.