Challenging Space History Trivia Quiz

Answer: Germany

The V-2 rocket was intended to be used as a guided ballistic missile. It was the first rocket which successfully crossed into the boundary of space on June 20th, 1944. The V-2 was largely the work of German aerospace engineer, Wernher von Braun. Braun later went on to invent the Saturn V Rocket, which was used by The United States during its Apollo program.

Answer: Kazakhstan

Vostok 1, which was the capsule that carried Gagarin, was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome Site No.1. The Cosmodrome is located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan. Sputnik was also launched from this same location.

Answer: Luna 9

Russia was the first country to "soft" land on the moon with Luna 9 on January 31st, 1966. Luna 9 was also the first spacecraft to take pictures from the surface of the moon. The USA followed suit four months later, landing their Surveyor 1 space probe in the Ocean of Storms.

Answer: Alexei Leonov

On March 18th, 1965, Leonov exited The Voskhod 2 spacecraft to perform the first spacewalk in history. His spacewalk lasted just over 12 minutes. This was a big blow to American pride. However, Leonov had no way of controlling his movements outside the spacecraft, other than pulling on his 50 foot long tether.

He almost died after his spacesuit overinflated, but after much effort he made it back into the spacecraft.

Answer: "Ok, I'm out."

White later stated, "I feel like a million dollars!". He could control his movements with a newly developed oxygen gun. As the spacewalk progressed, the capsule started to orbit over Houston. The Gemini 4 crew radioed to Houston, "Houston, do you have any message for us?" Houston CAPCOM replied, "The Flight Director said to get back in!" White went on to say, "This is the saddest moment of my life."

Answer: The Bible

The crew read from Chapter 1 of The Book of Genesis. They quoted verses 1-10 which detail the creation account of how God made the earth. This was also a very special occasion - Christmas Eve. The United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp to honor Apollo 8 and the scripture reading.

Answer: Professor at the University of Cincinnati

After his Apollo 11 flight, Armstrong received a number of offers to become a college president. However, he declined these offers. He picked Cincinnati because it had a relatively small aerospace engineering department, where he thought he would fit in. Armstrong did not have a big ego, and was content with just being a professor of aerospace engineering. Armstrong taught from 1971 to 1979.

Answer: Jim Lovell

Lovell set an endurance record on Gemini 7, spending 14 days in space with fellow astronaut Frank Borman. Next He flew for almost four days with Buzz Aldrin on Gemini 12, the final Gemini flight. Next, he flew in Apollo 8, which was the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon. Lastly, he flew in Apollo 13.

In total Lovell spent over 700 hours in space. His record was not broken until the SkyLab crew surpassed it in 1973.

Answer: Columbia

Columbia was launched on April 12th, 1981. Its mission, STS-1, marked the beginning of the space shuttle program. Interestingly, Columbia was then used on STS-2, showing that a manned spacecraft could be reused. In its entire flight history, Columbia never visited the International Space Station.

Answer: Discovery

After each tragedy the space shuttle program was grounded. Both times NASA investigated, and developed more rigorous policies and procedures to make the shuttle program safer. So with the whole world watching again, the first launch after each accident had to go flawlessly.

In both cases Discovery led the way. This is considered Discovery's greatest legacy, both return to flight missions, which got the shuttle program back into space. In 1990 Discovery launched the Hubble Space Telescope. Then in 1995 Discovery became the first shuttle to be piloted by a woman - Eileen Collins. Discovery brought John Glenn back into space, 36 years after he became the first american to orbit the earth. All in all, Discovery was launched more times than any other shuttle (39 times), and it has more time in space than any other shuttle (365 days).