History

Can You Outwit Space Legends? Test Your Knowledge of the Space Race!

What program launched the first U.S. astronauts?

Project Mercury

Project Gemini

Apollo Program

Skylab Program

Project Mercury was the first U.S. human spaceflight program, aiming to put a man in orbit around the Earth and examine his capabilities in space.

Which Apollo mission was the “successful failure”?

Apollo 11

Apollo 13

Apollo 17

Apollo 8

Apollo 13 is often called a “successful failure” due to the successful safe return of its crew after an oxygen tank explosion threatened their lives in space.

What was the goal of the Vostok program?

Orbit Earth

Moon flyby

Mars landing

Space station

The Vostok program, initiated by the Soviet Union, aimed to send the first humans into orbit and successfully achieved this with Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

Which of the following missions was a joint spaceflight between the USA and the Soviet Union?

Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

Skylab

Shuttle-Mir

Gemini 6

The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was the first international manned spaceflight, occurring in July 1975, and featured a rendezvous and docking between American and Soviet spacecraft.

Which satellite first transmitted a TV signal?

SCORE

Telstar

Echo 1

Explorer 1

Telstar was the first satellite to transmit live television signals across the Atlantic Ocean, demonstrating the feasibility of satellite communications in 1962.

Who was the first human to orbit Earth?

Neil Armstrong

Yuri Gagarin

John Glenn

Alan Shepard

Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut, became the first human to orbit Earth on April 12, 1961, aboard Vostok 1.

What was the name of the first satellite in space?

Explorer 1

Sputnik 1

Luna 1

Voyager 1

Sputnik 1, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, was the first artificial satellite successfully placed in orbit.

Who was the first astronaut to perform an EVA?

Yuri Gagarin

Alexei Leonov

Neil Armstrong

John Glenn

Alexei Leonov, a Soviet cosmonaut, became the first person to perform an extravehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalk, on March 18, 1965.

What did Sputnik 2 famously carry into orbit?

A dog

A cat

A mouse

A monkey

Sputnik 2 famously carried Laika, a dog, into orbit on November 3, 1957, making her the first animal to orbit the Earth.

What was the first successful mission to land a rover on the Moon?

Apollo 15

Luna 17

Apollo 13

Surveyor 1

Luna 17, launched by the Soviet Union, successfully landed the first rover, Lunokhod 1, on the Moon on November 17, 1970.

Which U.S. president committed the nation to landing a man on the moon?

John F. Kennedy

Dwight Eisenhower

Lyndon B. Johnson

Richard Nixon

President John F. Kennedy famously committed the United States to achieving a manned moon landing before the end of the 1960s in a speech on May 25, 1961.

Which was the first mission to use a lunar rover?

Apollo 11

Apollo 12

Apollo 15

Apollo 17

Apollo 15 was the first mission to use a lunar rover on the moon, enhancing the range of activities and experiments the astronauts could perform.

What is the name of the first U.S. Earth satellite?

Explorer 1

Vanguard 1

Telstar

Echo 1

Explorer 1, launched in 1958, was the first successful U.S. satellite and was instrumental in discovering the Van Allen radiation belts.

Which mission completed the first manned docking in space?

Gemini 8

Gemini 6

Apollo 10

Skylab 2

Gemini 8 successfully completed the first manned docking with another spacecraft, an Agena target vehicle, in orbit on March 16, 1966.

Which mission was the first to successfully photograph the far side of the Moon?

Apollo 8

Luna 3

Gemini 11

Apollo 13

Luna 3, launched by the Soviet Union in 1959, was the first mission to photograph the far side of the Moon, revealing it for the first time to humanity.

What was the primary objective of the Apollo 11 mission?

Orbit the moon

First manned lunar landing

Spacewalk

Map the moon’s surface

Apollo 11’s primary objective was to perform a manned lunar landing and return safely to Earth, accomplished in July 1969.

Who was the first American to orbit the Earth?

Alan Shepard

Gus Grissom

John Glenn

Scott Carpenter

John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth on February 20, 1962, during the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission aboard Friendship 7.

Which country launched the first woman into space?

United States

Soviet Union

China

France

The Soviet Union sent the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, into space aboard Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963.

Which space probe was the first to reach the vicinity of Mars?

Mariner 4

Viking 1

Mars Pathfinder

Sojourner

Mariner 4 was the first probe to successfully fly by Mars and send back close-up images of the Martian surface, achieving this in July 1965.

Which probe was the first to fly past Venus?

Mariner 2

Pioneer 5

Venus Express

Galileo

Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to successfully fly by Venus and return data about its atmosphere and surface, achieving this feat in December 1962.

Grounded Astronaut

You might need a little more training before lift-off!

Moon Walker

You’re on your way! A few more orbits and you’ll have it mastered.

Space Race Champion

You’ve conquered the cosmos! Nothing about the Space Race is alien to you!

Related Posts

1 of 55