13. Can we really see the lights of New York City and the Great Wall of China from space? Is it scary to look down? (A K2S Question)
From The Space Library
Contrary to popular belief, we cannot see the Great Wall of China from space with the unaided eye but we can if we know exactly where to look with an optical aid—a camera and telephoto lens or binoculars. Ever since John Glenn recognized the lights from the city of Perth, Australia during America's first orbital mission in the Mercury space program, it was realized that the lights from many great cities can be seen from space. So the lights from a large city like New York City can be seen. Some astronauts have reported that even with all their training for spacewalks in the huge neutral buoyancy pool prior to going to space, they still were startled by the feeling that they could drop forever if they ever let go of the Canadian-built manipulator arm on board the Shuttle! One gets an amazing feeling of depth when positioning oneself on the footholds at the edge of the manipulator arm and then looking down the entire length of the Shuttle to the rapidly moving blue Earth below!
Answer provided by Jim Zebrowski
Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer
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