Unmanned Space Travel Quiz | Specialized History

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What was the first man-made object to reach the moon?

Answer: Luna 2

The Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 was launched in September 12, 1959 and crash landed (as it was intended to) into the moon two days later. The Soviets continued the Luna program until 1976 when Luna 24 returned from the moon with over 150 grams of lunar dust.

2. What was the first man-made object to leave the solar system?

Answer: Pioneer 10

On June 13, 1983 Pioneer 10 passed the orbit of Neptune. Pioneer 10 had already sent back the first close-up pictures of Jupiter in 1973. The last contact with Pioneer 10 was made January 23, 2003. It should reach the star of Aldebaran in the Taurus constellation in two million years, give or take.

3. What were the first two man-made objects to touch the Martian surface?

Answer: Mars 2 and Mars 3

On November 27, 1971 the Soviet mission Mars 2 crashed into Mars when its parachute did not properly deploy. Mars 3 landed properly on December 2 but malfunctioned within seconds. No data was sent back by either lander save one partial picture from Mars 3.

4. What was the name of the US Mars lander missions of the 1970s?

Answer: Viking

Viking 1 landed successfully on the Martian surface July 20, 1976 and operated until November 1982. Viking 2 landed on September 3, 1976 and worked until a battery failure in April 1980.

5. What was the first probe to land on another planet and transmit data to Earth?

Answer: Venera 7

The Soviet probe Venera 7 landed on Venus in December 1970. It transmitted for 35 minutes before the sulfuric acid rains of Venus destroyed the probe.

6. What two comets did the European probe Giotto encounter?

Answer: Grigg-Skjellerup and Halley

On March 14, 1986, Giotto successfully encountered Halley from a distance of 600km. Surprisingly, it survived the encounter and was turned back on in 1992 to meet the Grigg-Skjellerup Comet. Giotto was able to transmit some data but no pictures in its 1992 encounter, since its camera was damaged during the Halley encounter.

7. What was new about the Ulysses mission around the Sun?

Answer: It is designed to study the Sun from all latitudes rather than just equatorially

Ulysses was launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-41) in October 1990. It has made observations of the Northern and Southern Polar regions of the Sun as well as encountering the comets Hyakutake and McNaught-Hartley. The spacecraft is due to be shut down in mid-2008 as its fuel will not be able to handle scientific experiments and maintaining flight. Still Ulysses operated four times as long as initially expected.

8. Toward what body was the probe New Horizons launched in 2006?

Answer: Pluto

New Horizons was launched in January 2006 to fly beyond the furtherest planet from the Sun. However in September 2006, Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet. This does not affect the expectations for New Horizons.

9. What is the name of the US unmanned mission that visited all four of the outer planets in the solar system?

Answer: Voyager 2

Voyager 2 was launched with its sister ship Voyager 1 in 1977. Voyager 2 visited Jupiter in July 1979, Saturn in August 1981, Uranus in January 1986 and Neptune in August 1989. Voyager 1 only visited Jupiter and Saturn, but was able to get close looks at Saturn's moon Titan.

10. What deep space probes were launched in 1977 carrying a record containing "The Rite of Spring", "The Brandenburg Concerto", and "Johny B. Goode" among other pieces of music?

Answer: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2

Called the 'Voyage Golden Record', a committee headed by Carl Sagan selected 115 images and many sound recordings to represent Earth to extraterrestrials if they were to find the Voyager probes. Included on the record was a greeting from the then President, Jimmy Carter.

11. What is the name of the Chinese unmanned program to the Moon?

Answer: Chang'e

Named for the Chinese goddess of the moon, the Cheng'e program is a three-step mission leading to eventual manned landing on the moon. Cheng'e 1 entered lunar orbit on November 5, 2007.

12. What was the name of the first Japanese probe to verifiably orbit the Moon?

Answer: Hiten

Hiten orbited the moon starting in October 1991. Its sister ship, Hagoromo, may have made orbit around the moon but due to communications failures that could not be verified. SELENE (Kaguya) began orbit around the moon in October 2007.

13. What planet did the Magellan probe radar map?

Answer: Venus

Magellan was launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-30) in 1989. It entered orbit around Venus on August 10, 1990 and mapped 98% of the surface of Venus until its orbit degraded in 1994.

14. What was the first unmanned craft to orbit Jupiter?

Answer: Galileo

Galileo was launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-34) in 1989. After gravitational assist flybys of Venus and Earth, Galileo entered orbit around Jupiter in December 1995 and stayed in orbit until it was intentionally crashed into Jupiter in 2003.

15. Which moon of Saturn did the Huygens probe investigate?

Answer: Titan

Huygens was launched with the Saturn orbiter Cassini in 1997. After two gravity assist flybys of Venus, Cassini-Huygens reached Saturn in 2004. On December 25, 2004 Huygens uncoupled from Cassini. Huygens landed on Titan on January 14, 2005 and sent signals for around an hour and a half.

Source: Author pericles34

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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Unmanned Space Travel Trivia Quiz

While the astronauts and cosmonauts of manned spaceflight get all the glory, it is the unmanned flights are where most of the science is achieved. Here are fifteen questions about this little followed exploration.

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