Man in Space Quotes Trivia Quiz

Answer: May 1961

Already behind the Soviets as far as space "firsts", President Kennedy was advised that reaching the Moon was something America had a good chance of accomplishing before the Soviets. His speech, on May 25, 1961, launched a program which at its height involved approximately 400,000 people, and ultimately cost $24 billion to accomplish.

The first part of the goal was met when Apollo 11 made its landing on the Moon July 20, 1969, and the second part when the crew returned safely to Earth on July 24, 1969.

Answer: Gordon Cooper

Launched on May 15, 1963, Cooper and "Faith 7" completed 22 orbits, with the potentially serious problems he mentioned beginning on the 20th orbit. Without the automatic controls, Cooper manually controlled the spacecraft for retrofire and reentry. Cooper later flew with Pete Conrad on Gemini V.

Answer: True

Alexei Leonov became the first man to walk in space on March 18, 1965, during the Voskhod 2 mission. While outside of the spacecraft, his suit inflated unexpectedly, restricting his movement and making it impossible to reenter the airlock. He was only able to get back in after bleeding out some of the air in the suit. Ed White spent 22 minutes floating in space outside of the Gemini IV spacecraft in June 1965, becoming the first American to walk in space.

He made his statement describing how he felt during the EVA in an interview for the June 25, 1965 issue of Life magazine.

Answer: Apollo 10

Apollo 10 flew the second mission to the moon, and was the dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing. Tom Stafford made this comment after he and Gene Cernan, in the lunar module, "Snoopy", completed docking with John Young in the command module, "Charlie Brown". Prior to rejoining "Charlie Brown", "Snoopy" had descended to just under ten miles from the lunar surface.

Answer: 9

The crew of Apollo 9 consisted of Mission commander Jim McDivitt, Lunar module pilot Rusty Schweickart, and Command module pilot Dave Scott. Their purpose was to test both the command and service modules, as well as the lunar module, in Earth orbit. Apollo 7's crew included Mission commander Wally Schirra, Lunar module pilot Walt Cunningham, and Command module pilot Donn Eisele.

Their mission tested the command and service modules; they did not fly with a lunar module.

Answer: Alan Shepard

Alan Shepard made America's first space flight as one of the Mercury 7, but was diagnosed with an inner ear disorder after being assigned to command the first manned Gemini mission. Years later, after he had surgery to correct his ear problem, he was assigned to command Apollo 14.

At 47, he became the oldest man to walk on the Moon, as well as the only Mercury astronaut to do so. Shepard and Ed Mitchell landed their lunar module "Antares" at Fra Mauro, while Stuart Roosa orbited in the command module, "Kitty Hawk".

Answer: Gene Cernan

Along with Jack Schmitt, Gene Cernan explored the Moon in the area of Taurus-Littrow in December 1972, spending more time on the surface and bringing back more samples than any other mission. Cernan and Schmitt landed on the moon with the lunar module, "Challenger", while the Command module pilot, Ron Evans orbited the Moon in the command module, "America".

Answer: True

Gus Grissom was selected as one of the Mercury 7 astronauts, and had flown both a Mercury and a Gemini mission before being named commander of the first manned Apollo mission. Grissom and his crew mates, Ed White and Roger Chaffee, all died when a fire started in their command module during a test on the launch pad in January 1967.

The subsequent investigation revealed many faults with the command module, which was redesigned before the Apollo 7 mission in October 1968.

Answer: Apollo 8

Apollo 8 was the first manned mission around the Moon, and its crew, consisting of Mission commander Frank Borman, Command module pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar module pilot Bill Anders, was the first to see Earthrise from the Moon. Borman took the first photo (in black and white), and Anders took the more well-known color photo which was made into a stamp by the US Postal Service in 1969. Many other astronauts were also awed by the sight of the Earth from so far away, realizing how fragile it looked and how important it was to them. Here are some of their thoughts:

"Now I know why I'm here. Not for a closer look at the Moon, but to look back at our home, the Earth." - Al Worden

"I really didn't appreciate the first planet (Earth) until I saw the second one . . . I cannot recall (the Moon's) tortured surface without thinking of the infinite variety the delightful planet Earth offers." - Michael Collins

"As we got further and further away, it (the Earth) diminished in size. Finally it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful you can imagine. That beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble and fall apart. Seeing this has to change a man." - Jim Irwin

"Suddenly, from behind the rim of the Moon, in long, slow-motion moments of immense majesty, there emerges a sparkling blue and white jewel, a light, delicate sky-blue sphere laced with slowly swirling veils of white, rising gradually like a small pearl in a thick sea of black mystery. It takes more than a moment to fully realize this is Earth . . . home." - Ed Mitchell

Answer: Charlie Duke

Later, during the same EVA, Duke found a rock which he showed to Houston. As he turned it to find a clean area, Tony England told him to "Blow on it". Duke replied, "Yeah. I was going to." John Young also joined in the fun later; after Duke said that the PSE skirt had some dust kicked on it, Young told him, "Blow it off, Charlie." Duke replied, "Oh, I can't do that." Duke let England know of the third time he tried to blow dust off, as well as the fourth time, which occurred during the second EVA. Young and Duke landed their lunar module, "Orion", in the Descartes Highlands, and performed three EVAs before rendezvousing with Ken Mattingly in the command module, "Casper".

Answer: "Roger. Understand. We're number one on the runway."

Buzz answered Ron Evans' pilot humor with a little of his own. Moments later, "Eagle" lifted off from the lunar surface to rendezvous with the command module, "Columbia". The crew of Apollo 11, Command module pilot Michael Collins, Mission commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin, launched on July 16, 1969. Buzz and Neil made their historic landing in the lunar module "Eagle" on July 20, 1969.

Answer: Apollo 13

In April 1970, Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert were headed for the Moon, when an explosion occurred in Apollo 13's service module. As a result, the Moon landing was aborted and many people worked tirelessly to bring the crew safely back. The CapCom, Joe Kerwin, teased Lovell with his remark shortly after the service module had been jettisoned, and mission control had received a report on its condition. For Lovell, a veteran of two Gemini missions as well as the Apollo 8 mission, Apollo 13 was his last trip into space.

Answer: Hadley

Apollo 15's lunar module, "Falcon", landed at Hadley Rille, near the Apennine mountains, in 1971. Dave Scott and Jim Irwin used the first lunar rover on the Moon to make three traverses of the area, traveling a little over 17 miles in total. Al Worden, in the command module, "Endeavor", was busy using the various cameras in the SIM bay to photograph future landing sites.

After leaving lunar orbit, Worden performed the first transearth EVA to retrieve the film cassettes.

Answer: Pete Conrad/Apollo 12

Pete Conrad said this to Al Bean as they were running toward Halo Crater, in a gait which Conrad likened to giraffes. The CapCom, Ed Gibson, responded, "Say, would you giraffes give us some comment on your boot penetration as you move across there - what you're doing now, and what (penetration) you had back there at Sharp Crater?" After years of reflection, Al Bean thought they looked more like gazelles than giraffes. Dick Gordon remained in Apollo 12's command module, "Yankee Clipper", while Pete Conrad and Alan Bean landed on the Moon in the lunar module, "Intrepid".

Answer: Deke Slayton

Deke Slayton was selected as one of the Mercury astronauts in 1959, but was sidelined with an erratic heartbeat before he was to make the second orbital flight. He served as NASA's Director of Flight Crew Operations before becoming eligible as an astronaut once again.

In 1975, he, along with Tom Stafford and Vance Brand, docked with Soyuz 19, crewed by Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov. During the mission, Slayton was asked by President Ford, "as the world's oldest space rookie", if he had any advice for young people who hope to fly on future space missions. Slayton's advice was to "decide what you want to do and then ... never give up until you've done it."