The Great Wall of China Is Not Visible From the Moon

It is one of the most repeated claims about any structure on Earth: that the Great Wall of China can be seen from the Moon. NASA says it cannot. In the caption to a photograph of the wall taken from the International Space Station by Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao, NASA states that, despite myths to the contrary, the wall isn’t visible from the Moon. The caption goes further. Even from Earth orbit, where the space station flies and where this picture was taken, NASA says the wall is difficult or impossible to see without the high-powered lenses used for that photo. In other words, the photograph itself depended on camera equipment, not on the eye alone. The same image shows part of Inner Mongolia.