Missions, Rockets & Stations

40 questions · Answers revealed below each question · Print this set

1.Which launch site is NASA's Florida launch complex for Moon rockets?
- A. the Guiana Space Centre
- B. Kennedy Space Center
- C. Baikonur Cosmodrome
- D. Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
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Kennedy Space Center
Did you know? Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A launched Apollo and shuttle flights.
2.Which mission made the first landing on the Moon's far side?
- A. Chang'e 4
- B. Tianwen-1
- C. Chandrayaan-1
- D. Opportunity
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Chang'e 4
Did you know? Chang'e 4 landed in January 2019 with the Yutu 2 rover.
3.Which rocket was invented in China centuries before modern spaceflight?
- A. the Long March rockets
- B. the gunpowder rocket
- C. the R-7
- D. the N1
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the gunpowder rocket
Did you know? Song-dynasty China used gunpowder rockets as weapons and fireworks.
4.Which satellite was the first American satellite in orbit?
- A. Explorer 1
- B. TIROS-1
- C. the Van Allen belts
- D. Syncom 3
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Explorer 1
Did you know? Explorer 1 discovered the Van Allen radiation belts in 1958.
5.Which NASA center is the California lab that steers Mars rovers?
- A. the Ames Research Center
- B. the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- C. the Johnson Space Center
- D. the Kennedy Space Center
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the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Did you know? JPL built Voyager, Viking and the Mars rovers.
6.Which crewed program was NASA's crewed Moon-landing program of the 1960s and 1970s?
- A. Project Mercury
- B. the Space Race
- C. the Gemini program
- D. the Apollo program
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the Apollo program
Did you know? Six Apollo missions landed twelve astronauts on the Moon.
7.Which orbital station was America's first orbital station?
- A. Skylab
- B. the Mir station
- C. the Salyut 7 station
- D. the Tiangong station
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Skylab
Did you know? Skylab hosted three crews in 1973-1974.
8.Which spacecraft has carried crews to orbit since the 1960s?
- A. the Falcon 9
- B. the Soyuz spacecraft
- C. the space shuttle Columbia
- D. SpaceShipOne
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the Soyuz spacecraft
Did you know? Soyuz remains a workhorse crew vehicle of human spaceflight.
9.Which launch site is the launch site that sent up Sputnik and Gagarin?
- A. Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
- B. the Guiana Space Centre
- C. Kennedy Space Center
- D. Baikonur Cosmodrome
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Baikonur Cosmodrome
Did you know? Baikonur Cosmodrome sits in today's Kazakhstan.
10.Which mission orbited Saturn and delivered the Huygens lander to Titan?
- A. Perseverance
- B. DART
- C. Cassini-Huygens
- D. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
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Cassini-Huygens
Did you know? The Huygens probe landed on Titan in January 2005.
11.Which rocket was the giant Moon rocket, still the tallest launched?
- A. the R-7
- B. the gunpowder rocket
- C. Ariane 5
- D. the Saturn V
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the Saturn V
Did you know? The Saturn V stood about 111 meters tall.
12.Which satellite are the charged-particle belts trapped by Earth's field?
- A. Echo 1
- B. TIROS-1
- C. Explorer 1
- D. the Van Allen belts
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the Van Allen belts
Did you know? The Van Allen belts swaddle Earth in trapped radiation.
13.Which NASA center is the Houston home of NASA mission control?
- A. the Johnson Space Center
- B. the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- C. the Ames Research Center
- D. the Kennedy Space Center
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the Johnson Space Center
Did you know? "Houston" was the first word spoken from the Moon's surface.
14.What Cold War contest pitted the US against the Soviet Union in orbit?
- A. the Space Race
- B. the Gemini program
- C. the Apollo program
- D. Project Mercury
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the Space Race
Did you know? The Space Race ran from Sputnik in 1957 to the 1975 handshake in orbit.
15.Which spacecraft was the first space shuttle to reach orbit?
- A. SpaceShipOne
- B. Buran
- C. the space shuttle Columbia
- D. the Falcon 9
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the space shuttle Columbia
Did you know? Columbia flew its first mission in April 1981.
16.Which mission was the first aircraft powered flight on another planet?
- A. Ingenuity
- B. Apollo 13
- C. Rosetta
- D. Sojourner
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Ingenuity
Did you know? Ingenuity's Mars helicopter flights began in April 2021.
17.Which rocket drops spent stages to shed dead weight as it climbs?
- A. the multistage rocket
- B. the Saturn V
- C. the gunpowder rocket
- D. Ariane 5
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the multistage rocket
Did you know? Staging lets rockets reach orbit with practical sizes.
18.Which crewed program was NASA's mid-1960s practice bridge to the Moon?
- A. the Space Race
- B. Project Mercury
- C. the Gemini program
- D. the Apollo program
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the Gemini program
Did you know? Gemini missions tested spacewalks and rendezvous for Apollo.
19.Which spacecraft was the first orbital rocket whose booster landed upright?
- A. Buran
- B. the Falcon 9
- C. SpaceShipOne
- D. the Soyuz spacecraft
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the Falcon 9
Did you know? The first Falcon 9 booster landing came in December 2015.
20.Which mission was the first mission to nudge an asteroid on purpose?
- A. DART
- B. Pioneer 10
- C. Apollo 13
- D. the Voyager Golden Record
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DART
Did you know? DART struck the asteroid Dimorphos in September 2022.
21.Which crewed program was NASA's first crewed spaceflight program?
- A. the Apollo program
- B. the Gemini program
- C. the Space Race
- D. Project Mercury
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Project Mercury
Did you know? Mercury flights proved humans could survive launch and orbit.
22.Which mission was the first rover driven on Mars?
- A. Sojourner
- B. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
- C. Tianwen-1
- D. Apollo 8
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Sojourner
Did you know? Sojourner explored Mars with the Pathfinder lander in 1997.
23.Which mission carries sounds and images of Earth aboard both Voyagers?
- A. Pioneer 11
- B. Ranger 7
- C. the Voyager Golden Record
- D. Chang'e 5
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the Voyager Golden Record
Did you know? The golden records include greetings in dozens of languages.
24.Which mission flew past Pluto in July 2015?
- A. New Horizons
- B. Phoenix
- C. JUICE
- D. Luna 2
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New Horizons
Did you know? New Horizons revealed Pluto's heart-shaped nitrogen glacier.
25.Which mission made the first landing on a comet?
- A. Philae
- B. Chandrayaan-1
- C. Parker Solar Probe
- D. New Horizons
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Philae
Did you know? Philae touched down on Comet 67P in November 2014.
26.Which mission was the Moon mission that turned into a survival rescue?
- A. Philae
- B. Apollo-Soyuz
- C. Chandrayaan-1
- D. Apollo 13
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Apollo 13
Did you know? Apollo 13's crew survived an oxygen tank explosion on the way to the Moon.
27.Which mission was the first mission to orbit a comet?
- A. Sojourner
- B. Chang'e 5
- C. Rosetta
- D. Tianwen-1
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Rosetta
Did you know? Rosetta escorted Comet 67P around the Sun in 2014-2016.
28.Which mission was the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon?
- A. Voyager 2
- B. BepiColombo
- C. Apollo 8
- D. New Horizons
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Apollo 8
Did you know? Apollo 8's crew read from Genesis in lunar orbit on Christmas Eve 1968.
29.Which launch site is Europe's equator-near launch site in South America?
- A. Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
- B. the Guiana Space Centre
- C. Kennedy Space Center
- D. Baikonur Cosmodrome
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the Guiana Space Centre
Did you know? Kourou's equatorial site aids launches toward orbit.
30.Which mission is the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus and Neptune?
- A. Voyager 2
- B. Chang'e 4
- C. Philae
- D. Apollo-Soyuz
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Voyager 2
Did you know? Voyager 2's "grand tour" reached Neptune in 1989.
31.Which rocket are China's launch vehicle family?
- A. the Space Launch System
- B. the Long March rockets
- C. the N1
- D. the gunpowder rocket
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the Long March rockets
Did you know? Long March rockets launched China's first astronaut in 2003.
32.Which satellite was the first successful weather satellite?
- A. the Van Allen belts
- B. Explorer 1
- C. Syncom 3
- D. TIROS-1
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TIROS-1
Did you know? TIROS-1 sent the first TV images of Earth's clouds in 1960.
33.Which shuttle orbiter was lost 73 seconds after liftoff in January 1986?
- A. space shuttle
- B. the space shuttle Challenger
- C. the space shuttle Discovery
- D. the space shuttle Endeavour
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the space shuttle Challenger
Did you know? The Challenger accident grounded the shuttle fleet for years.
34.Which orbital station is China's modular space station in orbit?
- A. the Salyut 7 station
- B. Skylab
- C. Tiangong
- D. the Mir station
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Tiangong
Did you know? Tiangong's core module launched in April 2021.
35.Which space technology protects a returning craft from reentry heat?
- A. a heat shield
- B. a solar sail
- C. a gravity assist
- D. aerobraking
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a heat shield
Did you know? Heat shields slow craft by turning speed into heat.
36.Which spacecraft made the first private crewed spaceflight in 2004?
- A. SpaceShipOne
- B. the Falcon 9
- C. the space shuttle Columbia
- D. Buran
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SpaceShipOne
Did you know? SpaceShipOne won the Ansari X Prize with back-to-back flights.
37.Which mission made the first soft landing on the Moon?
- A. Luna 16
- B. Luna 9
- C. Galileo
- D. Lucy
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Luna 9
Did you know? Luna 9 touched down in February 1966.
38.Which rocket was Europe's heavy launcher for over two decades?
- A. the Long March rockets
- B. the multistage rocket
- C. the Space Launch System
- D. Ariane 5
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Ariane 5
Did you know? Ariane 5 launched the JWST in December 2021.
39.Which satellite was the first satellite in a geostationary orbit?
- A. Syncom 3
- B. the Van Allen belts
- C. TIROS-1
- D. Telstar 1
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Syncom 3
Did you know? Syncom 3 beamed the 1964 Tokyo Olympics across the Pacific.
40.Which orbital station hosted cosmonauts for 15 years before its 2001 reentry?
- A. Skylab
- B. the Mir station
- C. the Salyut 7 station
- D. the Tiangong station
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the Mir station
Did you know? Mir broke up over the Pacific in March 2001.

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