The top photograph was taken by Apollo-7 crew in October 1968 during a mission to test control of a spacecraft moving into different orbits. Based on photographs from Gemini and Apollo, the estimated open water area of Lake Chad was over 22,000 km² (Mohler et al. 1989, Lullaet et al. 1991). Although not known at the time, Lake Chad would not be observed this full again from orbit—it had significantly decreased in area when it was observed by Landsat in 1972. Space Shuttle crews have continued to photograph dramatic fluctuations in Lake Chad. A sampling of this time series from 1982-2000 is shown below the Apollo image.
Lake Titicaca, at an elevation of 12,507 feet (3,812 meters) in the Andean Altiplano, is the highest large lake in the world. More than 120 miles long and 50 miles wide, it was the center of the Incan civilization, and today straddles the boundary between Peru and Bolivia.