I am a relative beginner with a question.

There are many descriptions of the train experiment and two flashes of light.

The Michelson Morley experiment tells us that the speed of light is independent of the frame of reference.

However if an observer in "fixed space" looked at the Michelson Morley experiment would the observer see a light pulse moving in the opposite direction to the equipment located on the earth the same way that the train experiment happens for the "statuonary" observer, i.e.the light pulse reaches one end of the equipment before the other?

1 hour ago, Caruthers said:

The Michelson Morley experiment tells us that the speed of light is independent of the frame of reference.

My understanding is that Michelson-Morley determined that the aether does not affect the motion of anything propagating through it ... as if it wasn't even there.
So the aether was discarded.

As for the frame independence of the speed of light, since the 1600s, one of the tenets of Galilean relativity is that no experiment performed in an inertial frame can determine uniform motion; you can only determine accelerated motion.
Einstein's thought experiment pictured himself sitting on a beam of light and holding a mirror in front of his face.
If the speed of light was frame dependent, his reflection would not be able to 'catch up' to the mirror and reflect back to his eyes; he would see a 'black' mirror and would be able to tell he was moving at the speed of light; a violation of Galilean invariance.
To preserve Galilean relativity, he must be able to see his reflection, which means the speed of light must be the same for all observers, or frame independent.

( I have tried to keep this explanation at the 'beginner' level )

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by MigL