4/25/24, 9:45 PM If you’re looking down to the Earth from the ISS, how much of the Earth can

how much of the Earth can you see? - Quora

How much of the Earth can see the International Space Station at the same time?
You can use the “spherical zone of one base,” which gives the formula derived in this diagram:

or in plain text:

A = 2πaR^2/(a+R), where

A = spherical area visible,

a = altitude (250 miles)

R = earth’s radius (3960 miles).

Plugging these values into the formula you get:

A = 2*π*7*3960^2/(250+3960) = 5,850,974 square miles or about 6 million square miles.

This may seem like a lot, but given that Earth’s total surface area is 197 million square miles, it only amounts
to about 3% of the total.

https://www.quora.com/If-you-re-looking-down-to-the-Earth-from-the-ISS-how-much-of-the-Earth-can-you-see 1/2
4/25/24, 9:45 PM If you’re looking down to the Earth from the ISS, how much of the Earth can you see? - Quora

Of course you can never see the whole Earth at one time, you can only see about half of it.

From the Moon, for example, you can see about 49% of the Earth, which is about as good as it gets.

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