The Space Race Quiz

1. Which country launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, in 1957?

1. Germany
2. UK
3. USA
4. USSR (Soviet Union)

2. Who was the first human to travel to space?

1. Alan Shepard
2. Buzz Aldrin
3. Neil Armstrong
4. Yuri Gagarin

3. Who was the first American to orbit the Earth?

1. Alan Shepard
2. Gordon Cooper
3. Gus Grissom
4. John Glenn

4. Which US space programme successfully landed humans on the Moon?

1. Apollo
2. Gemini
3. Mercury
4. Skylab

5. Neil Armstrong's famous words when stepping onto the Moon were: 'That's one small step for...'

1. '...a man, one giant leap for mankind.'
2. '...humanity, one giant leap for Earth.'
3. '...mankind, one giant leap for man.'
4. '...Neil Armstrong, one giant leap for America.'

6. Who was the third astronaut on Apollo 11 who orbited the Moon but did not land?

1. Buzz Aldrin
2. Jim Lovell
3. Michael Collins
4. Pete Conrad

7. The first dog in space was named what?

1. Belka
2. Laika
3. Sputnik
4. Strelka

8. The Apollo 13 mission is famous for what?

1. An oxygen tank explosion that forced an emergency return to Earth
2. The first Moon buggy drive
3. The first Moon landing
4. The first space walk

9. Who was the US President who challenged the nation to reach the Moon before the end of the decade in 1961?

1. Dwight Eisenhower
2. John F. Kennedy
3. Lyndon Johnson
4. Richard Nixon

10. Who was the first woman in space?

1. Mae Jemison
2. Sally Ride
3. Svetlana Savitskaya
4. Valentina Tereshkova

11. What famous rocket was used to carry Apollo missions to the Moon?

1. Atlas V
2. Falcon 9
3. Saturn V
4. Titan II

12. What was the first US satellite, launched in January 1958?

1. Explorer 1
2. Pioneer 1
3. Sputnik 2
4. Vanguard 1

13. What was the joint US-Soviet mission in 1975 where American and Soviet spacecraft docked?

1. Apollo-Soyuz
2. Shuttle-Mir
3. Skylab-Salyut
4. Vostok-Mercury

14. Buzz Aldrin's real first name is?

1. Edwin
2. Frank
3. Harold
4. Walter

15. Which space shuttle disaster occurred in 1986, shortly after launch?

1. Atlantis
2. Challenger
3. Columbia
4. Discovery

16. What was 'Skylab'?

1. A Soviet spy satellite
2. America's first space station (1973–1979)
3. NASA's Moon rover
4. The first space shuttle

17. How many Apollo missions successfully landed on the Moon?

1. 5
2. 6
3. 7
4. 8

18. The 'Space Race' was primarily a competition between which two countries?

1. France and USSR
2. USA and China
3. USA and USSR
4. USSR and UK

19. What spacecraft took the famous 'Blue Marble' photograph of Earth in 1972?

1. Apollo 11
2. Apollo 17
3. Skylab
4. Voyager 1

20. Who directed the Nazi V-2 rocket programme before working for NASA on the Saturn V?

1. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
2. Robert Goddard
3. Sergei Korolev
4. Wernher von Braun