Viewing The Expanse Trivia Quiz

Answer: False

Of the 15 Saturn 5 rockets made in the 1960s, only 13 were actually ever used. Ten of these rockets were used to launch manned Apollo missions (Apollos 8-17), at a 1960s cost of $200 million apiece. One of the rockets was used to orbit the space station Skylab, and the first two ever used were Apollo test launches. If you travel to the Johnson Space Center, just outside of Houston, Tx, you will see one of these 360-foot monsters on display.

Answer: No

The Soviet Union took that honor in April of 1961 with Vostok 1. It was just a mere month later that Mercury had its maiden voyage. Being the better-crafted space vehicle, it went on to fly 5 more more manned missions before 1964.

Answer: Mauna Kea, Hawaii

The Kecks are located 94 feet away from each other on an extinct Hawaiian volcano. Mount Graham is home to the LBT, or Large Binocular Telescope; Mount Pastukhov hosts the BTA, or Bolshoi Azimuthal Telescope; and in Chile you'll find VLT, or Very Large Telescope.

Answer: Very Large Array

In the movie "Contact" you see Ellie Arroway visit the VLA, Very Large Array, in New Mexico. The VLA consists of 27 radio antennas in a radius of 13 miles (21 kilometers). She was not looking at the stars, but listening to them. You can visit the website for the VLA at: http://www.vla.nrao.edu/

Answer: Manned Maneuvering Unit

Basically, the MMU is a rocket inside a backpack. You may have seen this device used in the fantasy drama "Space Camp". Though it is no longer used, it served its purpose on three shuttle missions in 1984. A smaller and lighter unit, entitled SAFER, took the place of the MMU. SAFER stands for Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue.

Answer: 1950s

Sputnik 1 was the very first satellite launched in 1957, but it was on December 18, 1958 that the very first communication satellite was launched (SCORE). Though launched, SCORE was not fully operational. It was not until July of 1962 that the first full operational comsat, Telstar 1, made it into the Earth's orbit.

Answer: Apollo 4

The 2 crawlers built in the 1960s cost $13 million apiece. They each weighed in at 3,000 tons, carried 5,000 gallons of fuel, and were nicknamed Hans and Franz. In 1977 The American Society of Mechanical Engineers named them National Mechanical Engineering Landmarks.

Answer: February 19, 1986

It was on March 14, 1986 that Mir received its first crew. In the years that followed Mir experienced many additions and problems.

Answer: Faint object camera

The FOC, or faint object camera, is part of the Hubble Space Telescope. On Voyager, the TV camera displays high resolution images of planets and their atmospheres; the radio transmitter probes a planet's atmosphere for solid materials; and the plasma detector investigates the magnetosphere specifically for its particles' energy spectra.

Answer: Cheyenne Mountain

Cheyenne Mountain is located near Colorado Springs, Colorado. NORAD was originally located in Ent Air Force Base in Colorado and was called Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center. The tunnel into the mountain is nicknamed The Bat Cave, and is held up and in place with over 100,000 rock bolts.

The bolts range from 6 to 32 feet in length. One third of a mile into the tunnel are two huge steel doors. These doors, which can be closed in as fast as 30 seconds, were recreated in the 1983 movie "Wargames".

The home base of NORAD was later moved to Peterson Air Force Base near Colorado Springs.