In your Vegas News item about the astronaut on Artemis II citing Luxor, you wrote that several astronauts have mentioned how bright Las Vegas is from space. Can you share those statements with us?
In case you missed it, when Victor Glover, one of the four astronauts on NASA's Artemis II Moon-flyby mission, was watching the solar corona through the capsule's window, he commented, "If you’ve ever seen the spotlight off the top of the Luxor at night in Las Vegas, this looks like what that wants to be when it grows up.”
As mentioned in the News item and referred to in the question, several astronauts have explicitly commented on how strikingly bright Las Vegas is when viewed from space. It’s often singled out as one of the easiest cities on Earth to recognize at night from orbit.
Astronauts have tended to emphasize that it’s not just about brightness. It's more the high light intensity in a compact layout (compared, for example, to sprawling nearby cities like Los Angeles and Phoenix), the minimal nearby light pollution to dilute its glow, and the sharp contrast with its surroundings. We can imagine that from out in space, Vegas looks like a neon cluster dropped into total darkness, which makes it more noticeable than many cities that are technically larger or brighter in total output.
For example, what stood out to Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station (ISS), was Las Vegas as "a brilliant island of light surrounded by darkness, making it stand out more than many larger cities." He was referring, of course, to the city juxtaposed against the stark Mojave, isolated in the desert rather than blended into a dense metro corridor. He repeatedly mentioned this in interviews and in social media, as well he could; Hadfield spent nearly a half-year in space.
Shane Kimbrough spent 388 days on the ISS, performing eight space walks along the way. In August 2021, he posted a photo of Las Vegas at night, writing, “Hello Las Vegas! The Las Vegas Strip is shining brightly from 250 miles up. Las Vegas is in a basin on the floor of the Mojave Desert and is surrounded by mountain ranges on all sides.” We suspect this is the most direct and time-stamped astronaut comment about the city’s brightness from orbit.
Carl Walz spent 231 days in space on four missions. In a NASA blog published August 1, 2014, Walz described memorable night views from the ISS, including Las Vegas at night. "… There was absolutely nothing like flying over Las Vegas at night. You can actually see the colors of the lights. Most city lights are a kind of white light that’s a bit diffuse. Then there’s Las Vegas. It’s this bright spot out in the middle of the desert just staring you in the face …”
Those are the most specific quotes, but NASA Earth Observatory has published official astronaut photos showing nighttime Las Vegas multiple times, emphasizing how visible and distinctive the city lights are from space — even if not always accompanied by spoken lines. quotes.
