diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index 02628a3ec..b86e53df0 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -125,15 +125,7 @@
     "show-inheritance": None,
 }
 
-intersphinx_mapping = {
-    "python": ("https://docs.python.org/3", None),
-    "matplotlib": ("https://matplotlib.org/stable/", None),
-    "numpy": ("https://numpy.org/doc/stable/", None),
-    "scipy": ("https://docs.scipy.org/doc/scipy/", None),
-    "sphinx": ("https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/", None),
-    "pytest": ("https://docs.pytest.org/en/stable/", None),
-    "trimesh": ("https://trimesh.org/", None),
-}
+from intersphinx_config import intersphinx_mapping
 
 highlight_language = "scenic"
 pygments_style = "scenic.syntax.pygment.ScenicStyle"
diff --git a/docs/intersphinx_config.py b/docs/intersphinx_config.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f1dbcc41a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/intersphinx_config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+"""Shared Intersphinx configuration for Scenic's documentation.
+
+This module defines ``intersphinx_mapping``, which is imported from
+``docs/conf.py`` and reused from ``tests/test_docs.py`` to check
+connectivity to all configured external documentation sites.
+"""
+
+intersphinx_mapping = {
+    "python": ("https://docs.python.org/3", None),
+    "matplotlib": ("https://matplotlib.org/stable/", None),
+    "numpy": ("https://numpy.org/doc/stable/", None),
+    "scipy": ("https://docs.scipy.org/doc/scipy/", None),
+    "sphinx": ("https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/", None),
+    "pytest": ("https://docs.pytest.org/en/stable/", None),
+    "trimesh": ("https://trimesh.org/", None),
+}
+
+
+def iter_intersphinx_urls():
+    """Yield the base URLs from the mapping."""
+    for base_url, _ in intersphinx_mapping.values():
+        yield base_url
diff --git a/tests/test_docs.py b/tests/test_docs.py
index c2a0f33a3..4b4598517 100644
--- a/tests/test_docs.py
+++ b/tests/test_docs.py
@@ -1,12 +1,38 @@
 import os
-import socket
 import subprocess
+from urllib.error import URLError
+from urllib.request import Request, urlopen
 
 import pytest
 
+from docs.intersphinx_config import iter_intersphinx_urls
+
 pytest.importorskip("sphinx")
 
 
+def _check_intersphinx_connectivity(timeout=10.0):
+    """Check that Intersphinx sites are reachable before building docs."""
+    problems = []
+
+    for url in iter_intersphinx_urls():
+        # Some docs hosts don't like the default Python-urllib user-agent.
+        req = Request(url, headers={"User-Agent": "Mozilla/5.0"})
+        try:
+            with urlopen(req, timeout=timeout):
+                pass
+        except (URLError, TimeoutError) as e:
+            # We've seen slow HTTPS responses raise a bare TimeoutError from the
+            # SSL layer instead of being wrapped in URLError, so catch both here
+            # to avoid flaky failures when docs hosts are slow or unresponsive.
+            problems.append(f"{url} ({e})")
+
+    if problems:
+        pytest.skip(
+            "Some Intersphinx sites are not reachable; skipping docs build:\n"
+            + "\n".join(problems)
+        )
+
+
 @pytest.mark.slow
 def test_build_docs():
     """Test that the documentation builds, and run doctests.
@@ -14,10 +40,7 @@ def test_build_docs():
     We do this in a subprocess since the Sphinx configuration file activates the veneer
     and has other side-effects that aren't reset afterward.
     """
-    try:
-        socket.getaddrinfo("docs.python.org", 80)
-    except OSError:
-        pytest.skip("cannot connect to python.org for Intersphinx")
+    _check_intersphinx_connectivity()
 
     oldDirectory = os.getcwd()
     try: