Is the Great Wall of China Visible from Space?
After reading The Greatest Myths, Hoaxes & Mysteries Laurie writes: Please settle a long-disputed question; that is, is it really possible to see the Great Wall of China from standard orbit with the naked eye? I say that the idea is pure drivel. “After all,” I have said to my deluded friends, “I-70 is bigger and it can’t be seen from space either.” How did this idiocy get started, anyway? Robert Roy Britt replies: Glad you asked, because I’d always had that one in the back of my head, too. I poked around with a few sources who know more about this than I do, including our own long-time human spaceflight reporter Jim Banke. It turns out the answer depends on exactly how the question is phrased. So let me phrase it this way: Can you see the Great Wall from space? Yes, if you’re low enough and look hard enough. An astronaut aboard a space shuttle can find it, but she would more easily spot other manmade objects, such as highways, and could also see airports, dams and even large vehicles.
