Movies with the Right Stuff Quiz | Movies

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Let's start off on the "right" foot with a question about the movie "The Right Stuff" (1983). John Glenn was one of the main roles in this film. Which actor played Glenn in the movie?

Answer: Ed Harris

Playing John Glenn was the first major role in Ed Harris' long career. He followed this up with many more movies including "The Abyss", "Under Fire", "Milk Money", "The Rock", and "Apollo 13", for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He lost to Kevin Spacey in "The Usual Suspects". A little tidbit - Ed also was the ghostly voice talking to Kevin Costner in "Field of Dreams"!

2. Our next movie was an intense battle for survival after the main engine in their spacecraft fails on a return trip from a space station. Both the Americans and Russians work to rescue the crew of Ironman One before their oxygen runs out. Can you name this film that stars Richard Crenna, Gene Hackman and James Franciscus?

Answer: Marooned

"Marooned" was released in 1969, shortly after the first moon landing. The filmmakers copied the Apollo capsule to make the film current with the NASA space program. An interesting side note - the voice chatter from the second launch sequence was utilized in Space Mountain at Disneyland.

3. "Silent Running" (1972) tells the lonely tale of one man with three small robots named Huey, Louie, and Dewey. He struggles to save the last forest, now existing on a spacecraft near Jupiter. The lead actor is on screen the whole time and is probably most infamously known as the man who killed John Wayne in a movie. Who is this actor?

Answer: Bruce Dern

Yes, Bruce Dern shot and killed John Wayne in "The Cowboys". In "Silent Running", he sacrifices his life to save the forest where the one remaining robot, Dewey, continues to care for it. The other three names listed had about the only other parts in the movie and none were on screen very much. Dern has been active in film and television since 1960 and has been nominated for Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in "Coming Home" (1978) and Best Actor for "Nebraska" (2013).

4. This movie, released in 1977, is a tangled tale of a mission to Mars that was an illusion. NASA found that the trip would not be survivable and pulls the crew out of the capsule just before launch. Everything is fine until the empty craft burns up on reentry. The astronauts, announced by Nasa as having perished, escape the desert base they are held at, split up and hope that just one of them can survive NASA attempts to reveal the secret. Starring James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. Simpson, what is the name of this film?

Answer: Capricorn One

The movie was a play on the "new" conspiracy theory that the moon landing in 1969 was all fake. Besides the actors who played the three astronauts, there were a number of prominent actors also in the film including Elliott Gould, Hal Holbrook, Telly Savalas, Brenda Vaccaro and Karen Black.

In the end, Brolin is the one who, after being rescued by Elliot Gould, arrives at his own funeral and the plot is exposed.

5. This movie, made in 1902, is one of the very first space films. It was a silent film and was based on Jules Verne's writings. Georges Melies directed and produced the film which had the iconic shot of a spacecraft sticking in the eye of the moon. What was this historic film?

Answer: A Trip to the Moon

Melies made hundreds of films during his career but "A Trip to the Moon" was his masterpiece and was named as the 84th greatest film of the 20th century by "The Village Voice". During World War I, Melies' films were melted down by the French army. It wasn't until the late 1920s that two copies of "A Trip to the Moon" were located but neither was complete.

In 1997, the missing sequences were reconstructed and the full film was finally available again.

6. Space travel is always fast but only one movie had a new hyper speed called "ludicrous speed". "Spaceballs" was a funny spoof of "Star Wars" and featured a truly unique spaceship, a Winnebago. Now, think carefully, use the Schwartz if you need to. Complete the name of the director of this movie: Mel _____.

Answer: Brooks

"Spaceballs" was released in 1987 and was Brooks' first big hit since "Young Frankenstein" back in 1974. Mel Brooks starred in two roles: Yoghurt (Yoda) and President Skroob. As Skroob, Brooks worked in his popular line "its good to be the king". Three of Mel Brooks' movies ranked in the top 13 of the American Film Institute's best comedies of all time: "Blazing Saddles" (#6), "The Producers" (#11) and "Young Frankenstein" (#13).

7. "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" was an Oscar-nominated song from the movie "Armageddon" (1998) which was written by Diane Warren. Who sang the song?

Answer: Aerosmith

The song became an instant hit for Steven Tyler and Aerosmith. After almost three decades as a band and many hits, this was the band's first #1 hit. Aerosmith also sang their popular songs "Sweet Emotion" and "What Kind of Love Are You On" on the movie's soundtrack.

8. Really enjoy seeing a space shuttle? Well, "Moonraker" (1979) had a ton of them! Drax was the evil villain this time around and Roger Moore served as the ever debonair James Bond. But there was a background love story developing throughout between the once evil Jaws and his new girlfriend Dolly. Which very tall actor starred as Jaws?

Answer: Richard Kiel

Richard Kiel had his first big success when he first played Jaws in "The Spy Who Loved Me". His appearance in the two Bond films made him a very popular star. Kiel had actually used the metal teeth before the Bond movies in a small role in "Silver Streak". His last major role was in "Happy Gilmore".

9. "Apollo 13" (1995) is an intense telling of the true story of a near disaster for the United States space program. The heroic efforts to solve seemingly impossible problems turned disaster into one of NASA's proudest moments. While he was later found faultless, which astronaut "stirred the tanks" which caused the oxygen tank to explode?

Answer: Jack Swigert

Jack Swigert, played by Kevin Bacon, stirred the tanks and what was eventually found to be a faulty relay ignited the oxygen tank. Bill Paxton was Fred Haise, the Lunar Module Pilot and Tom Hanks portrayed Commander Jim Lovell. Ed Harris was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor but lost out to Kevin Spacey, up for his role in "The Usual Suspects". Swigert was later elected to the United States Congress in 1982. Sadly, it was discovered shortly before the November election that Swigert had developed cancer.

He died on December 27th before he could be sworn in.

10. Saved my favorite space movie for last! "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) was known by the classic line "klaatu barada nikto". What was the name of the robot that this line was spoken to during the movie?

Answer: Gort

While the movie wasn't a blockbuster in earnings when released, it has been recognized as one of the best and most innovative science fiction movies of all time. The American Film Institute list it at #5 on its list of best science fiction films. Patricia Neal spoke the famous line to Gort to stop him from destroying everything.

However, during filming, she had a difficult time not giggling when trying to say the challenging line. Gort was a large robot that was the protector of Klaatu, played by Michael Rennie. Gort's mission was to preserve the peace by utterly destroying any form of aggression.

He was one of many throughout the universe that formed the interstellar police force.

Source: Author ghosttowner

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor jmorrow before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Movies with the Right Stuff Trivia Quiz

This quiz offers questions on a variety of movies that specifically feature space travel in them. So fire up that booster rocket and get ready to head out into the universe! (Some spoilers.)

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