Space Exploration Trivia

Can you guess these facts about the history of space exploration?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: October 20, 2021
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First submittedOctober 15, 2013
Times taken30,773
Average score65.0%
Rating4.32
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Clue
Answer
First person on the moon
Neil Armstrong
Second person on the moon
Buzz Aldrin
First person to orbit Earth
Yuri Gagarin
First American to orbit Earth
John Glenn
Codename for the US program to put a man in orbit
Mercury
Codename for the US program to land a man on the moon
Apollo
Russian spacecraft docked at the International Space Station as an escape pod
Soyuz
German rocket scientist who moved to the U.S. after WWII
Wernher von Braun
City where NASA mission control is located
Houston
NASA's launch site
Kennedy Space Center
Space shuttle that blew up in 1986
Challenger
Space telescope launched in 1990
Hubble
First man-made satellite to orbit Earth
Sputnik
Russian version of astronaut
Cosmonaut
Chinese version of astronaut
Taikonaut
Type of rocket used on the lunar missions
Saturn V
Three-letter former Russian space station
Mir
First private company to send people into orbit (2020)
SpaceX
Fill the blanks in these quotes
The eagle has landed
One giant leap for mankind
+1
Level 82
Dec 12, 2013
I knew Yuri's first name but couldn't recall his second, and I knew what a Souyez was from seeing the film Gravity but I couldn't figure out how to spell it.
+1
Level 61
Aug 20, 2016
I kept trying a bunch of things but were close to Gagarin but never got it :(
+5
Level 72
Aug 23, 2016
The question is a bit weird, they use the soyuz to get to and from the space station regularly. It's not just an escape pod.
+3
Level 82
Apr 12, 2022
Many years later and I never have trouble recalling Yuri anymore.
+1
Level 59
Dec 12, 2013
Thank you, "Rocket Boys"!
+3
Level 84
May 6, 2014
I realize this will change, but Taikonaut is pretty obscure, particularly when compared to the rest. Good quiz though!
+2
Level 75
Jun 30, 2014
unless you're Chinese
+5
Level 74
Aug 22, 2016
If you're Chinese you call them 航天员, hang tian yuan. I'd never heard the term "taikonaut" in Mandarin or in English.
+4
Level 92
Jul 19, 2018
From looking up articles where it is actually used it seems to be the English language term coined to refer to Chinese astronauts. Its obscurity could just mean there have not been enough Chinese sent up to space yet.
+12
Level 56
Aug 20, 2016
I have a better idea, let's just call them all with the same name. No more astro-cosmo-taiko debates.
+8
Level 45
Jul 21, 2019
Wait, I also submit the french spationaute ! :p
+1
Level 68
Dec 16, 2020
Yes, please add spationaute !
+3
Level 41
May 26, 2018
As a chinese person who's lived in China for some time, this is the first time I've seen "taikonaut".
+3
Level 79
Mar 9, 2021
As a Malaysian who's lived in China for 19 years, this is probably the first time I've seen 'taikonaut' as well.
+1
Level 56
Aug 20, 2016
No mention of Goddard who made the first rocket and is known as the "Father of modern rocketry"?
+1
Level 18
Oct 19, 2016
True...haven't even heard bout von braun...
+1
Level 77
Oct 25, 2021
Really? He's a fascinating figure in American/German history.
+1
Level 72
Aug 20, 2016
Never heard of Werner Von Braun. You learn something new every day
+3
Level 56
Aug 20, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5JmDNpjKYc
+1
Level 58
Feb 7, 2017
Check out the movie I Aim at the Stars.
+5
Level 84
Feb 23, 2017
" 'Once the rockets go up, who cares where they come down. That's not my department,' says Werner von Braun." - - - Thank you, Tom Lehrer! LOL!!!
+1
Level 82
Jul 21, 2019
Definitely can't blame this one on being born in the UK.
+1
Level 75
Jul 21, 2019
When I was growing up in the '60s Von Braun's name was always in the news and he was interviewed often on TV. I don't remember hearing about Goddard as much back then - I think he worked more in the background.
+2
Level 84
Oct 21, 2021
I think it was more because Goddard "laid the foundations" a generation earlier. His work started in the 1920's, years before rocketry enjoyed significant interest in the US, and lasted through to the early 1940's. He died on August 10, 1945 - four days after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
+3
Level 76
Jul 21, 2020
Ha — if you really want to learn something, look up Operation Paperclip. Von Braun was far from the only one; the US space program was largely run by Nazi scientists.
+3
Level 83
Oct 20, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih1FYUwz02E
+1
Level 82
Apr 12, 2022
I'm sure the media you consume tells you that basically everyone in the US is a Nazi. And in Ukraine, too.
+1
Level 76
Apr 20, 2022
Nice strawman there.

But the fact that the US took in thousands of Nazis after the war, and that they were central to the space program, is a well-documented matter of public record.

Seriously, this is something that's extremely easy to look up.

+1
Level 76
Apr 22, 2022
@tofani

Ha, thanks for the link — that's quality.

+2
Level 55
Aug 23, 2016
I think Goddard should be accepted for Father of Rocket Science
+1
Level 81
Aug 24, 2016
Maybe add a question in about the rovers, SpaceX or Juno to make it more up to date (let alone Pioneer / Voyager)
+13
Level 84
Feb 23, 2017
Was expecting Valentina Tereshkova to make an appearance on this one, as the first woman in space. :-(
+1
Level 27
Jan 13, 2018
kept trying 'huge leap for mankind' annoyed .
+1
Level 58
Feb 17, 2019
When you get the least guessed answer without thinking or being Chinese... :)
+9
Level 78
Jul 22, 2019
The first person to orbit the Earth is certainly a milestone. The first person from the USA (or any particular country) to orbit the Earth is useless chauvinism. There are plenty of other interesting trivia that could be included instead.
+3
Level 84
Jul 22, 2019
So you're saying that if the Soviets had dropped a man on the moon the year after the USA did, that no one would care about him or his name? It's perfectly legitimate to ask the first American to orbit as these were the only two space powers at the time. Not to mention that a lot more people get the Glenn answer than von Braun.
+7
Level 62
Aug 14, 2020
No love for poor Laika?
+1
Level 78
Apr 13, 2021
I think I saw a dog representing Laika in The Guardians of the Galaxy.
+3
Level 86
Oct 20, 2021
Challenger exploded in 1986, not 1987.
+3
Level 84
Oct 20, 2021
Yeah, a few months before Space Camp was released - a family movie about kids getting accidentally launched into space on one of those shuttles and trying to get home alive. Famously a marketing nightmare.
+1
Level ∞
Oct 20, 2021
Fixed
+3
Level 86
Oct 20, 2021
There should be some questions about space probes, which are much more "space exploration" than the ISS and a few others on the quiz...
+1
Level 74
Oct 27, 2021
as an spacemonger myself I demand this quizz to be expanded to 40 questions at least
+1
Level 89
Apr 12, 2022
I saw The Right Stuff recently so I got the Mercury question straight away.
+1
Level 75
Apr 12, 2022
I would suggest a question about Voyager. - What object has traveled the furthest from Earth for example.
+3
Level 85
Apr 12, 2022
Given the vast amount of government subsidies, can we really call it a private company sending people on space trips?
+1
Level 60
Feb 22, 2023
9/20 I was clueless on this one