After Neil and Buzz Trivia Quiz

Answer: Charles

Charles Conrad was given his father's first name, but his mother had wanted to call him Peter, and he ended up being called Peter or Pete by most people despite his birth certificate. One of the shortest of the astronauts, when he set foot on the lunar surface on November 19, 1969 he remarked: "...that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me."

Answer: Ocean of Storms

The Ocean of Storms is the largest of the seas or maria on the moon, covering about 1.5 million square miles. It is the only mare called "Ocean", rather than "Sea".

The Apollo 12 mission was nearly aborted when the spacecraft was hit by lightning less than a minute after lift off and telemetry errors were seen. Quick thinking from flight controller John Aaron saved the day. He told the astronauts to flip a switch to put the relatively obscure Signal Condition Electronics system onto auxiliary mode. Hardly anyone knew what he was getting at, but Bean did, and the mission was able to proceed.

Answer: Alan Shepard

Alan Shepard had been through the mill in his efforts to make it to the moon and finally made it on February 5, 1971. He had been one of NASA's original 7 astronauts in 1959 and made the first manned Mercury flight in 1961, becoming the first American into space. That was to be his last space flight until Apollo 14 because he was diagnosed with Ménière's disease, a cruel affliction for an astronaut as it causes severe dizziness and nausea, and he was subsequently found to have other medical issues. He was grounded - he had been penciled in for the first Gemini flight. After surgery he was able to join the Apollo program and was nearly assigned to Apollo 13, but -to give him more time - a switch was made with the unfortunate Jim Lovell, who along with Swigert and Haise didn't get to the moon.

In the context of all that, one can appreciate the middle aged (he was 47) high spirits shown by his lunar golf drives.

Answer: True

Lunar module pilot Edgar Mitchell had been inspired to become an astronaut by President Kennedy's famous speech. He had been involved in the Apollo 13 mission operations team during the crisis, experimenting on ways to steer the lunar module. As part of that operation he was in the group who were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Nixon.

While on the moon he threw a metal rod in the style of a javelin.

Answer: David Scott

David Scott first flew in space in Gemini 8 with Neil Armstrong. He went back to space in Apollo 9 - which went into Earth orbit testing key aspects of the mission to the moon. His third space flight was the big one - he landed on the moon on July 30, 1971, and became the seventh man to walk there.

Answer: Noah's Ark

James Irwin's first and only space mission was on Apollo 15, for which he was the pilot of the Lunar Module. After the mission, he spent 20 years working to share his religious convictions that the Bible was history rather than myth. He was the youngest of the moon visitors to die, in 1991 at the age of 61.

Answer: Space Shuttle

John Young was one of only three people who flew to the moon twice. The high point of his 42 year career as an astronaut was landing on the moon on April 21, 1972 as mission commander. He went on to command two Space Shuttle flights, including the first in 1981. He retired from NASA in 2004.

Answer: Charles Duke

Charles Duke was 36 when he joined John Young on the moon. Apollo 16 was his first space mission, although he had played significant roles in the Apollo program earlier. He acted as Capsule Communicator in the support team for Apollo 11. When Armstrong announced that "The Eagle has landed", it was Duke who replied "...You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again." Duke had an indirect impact on Apollo 13. It was due to him that Ken Mattingly was exposed to German Measles and had to miss out on that mission. Mattingly acted as Command Module Pilot for Apollo 16.

Answer: Eugene Cernan

Joe Engle was a test pilot in the X-15 program. He was originally going to be the Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 17, but was replaced.
Ronald Evans was the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 17.
Stuart Roosa was Command Module Pilot for Apollo 14.

Cernan set a number of records in his career as astronaut: As part of the Apollo 10 crew he travelled at the fastest speed by a manned vehicle: 24,791 mph. On Apollo 17 he piloted the Lunar Rover to a less amazing lunar land speed record of about 11mph. The 74 hours 59 minutes 40 seconds on the moon from 11 to 14 December he spent was also a record, as was the 22 hours 3 minutes, 57 seconds of extra-vehicular activity.

Answer: True

Schmitt was in the fourth group of potential astronauts selected in 1965. Previous candidates had been selected because of test pilot or fighter pilot experience. Schmitt's fourth group was selected on academic experience, with NASA providing pilot training as required.

He was a geologist and played a key role in training his fellow Apollo astronauts to carry out their geological tasks, and was involved in the examination of the samples that were brought back. He acted as Lunar Module Pilot, and was felt by Cernan to be outstanding in that role.

On the way to the moon, he is said to have been responsible for one of the most reproduced photographs ever taken. It shows a whole Earth image and is popularly known as The Blue Marble. It became an inspiration for the environmental movement.