Space Quiz

Space Quiz

By Jeff Gorham

Ascent from Midgard

Vikings Rocketry Society newsletter 1988

Check your knowledge of the Real Thing!

Try your hand at this quiz. For the answers, email me at Thompsonje@gmail.com

Space Probes, the unmanned space program:

  1. What was the name of the first interplanetary probe? What was its destination?
  2. The Pioneer 10 and 11 missions each carried a controversial plaque designed by Cornell astrophysicists Frank Drake and Carl Sagan. Why was it controversial?
  3. The Voyager series, on the other hand, had a different message for any aliens who might encounter it. What was it?
  4. What was the name of the two probes that soft landed on Mars in 1976?
  5. By the time the Voyager probes leave the Solar System, al of the planets except one will have been probed. Which one was omitted?
  6. A Jupiter probe was supposed to have been launched in 1986, but was grounded because of the Challenger accident, what was the name of the probe?
  7. The probe Ulysses (also delayed because of the grounding of the shuttles) was supposed to look at the Sun’s polar region, but first it had to fly past another planet. Which one and why?
  8. Name the three U.S. lunar probe series launched during the 1960’s; a bonus point if you can identify the one that soft landed on the Moon.

Women in Space. There has been much written about the “man in space” program, but what about the women?  Here are some equal opportunity questions to test your knowledge of female space travelers.

Miss Baker rode a Jupiter nosecone with a rhesus monkey named Able.  What kind of animal was Miss Baker? What happened to her afterward?

  1. Anita and Arabella were a pair of space faring arachnids. What mission did they fly on?
  2. The first orbiting female went up in 1957. What was her name, and what was the name of the vehicle she was in?
  3. Originally, women were thought to be better suited to the rigors of space travel than men. Thus, a program called FLAT was established. What did FLAT stand for, and why was it abandoned?
  4. Most of us know that Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman in space, and that Sally Ride was the first American Woman. But can you name the second women in space for the Soviet Union and the U.S.?
  5. Early in the planning for the Gemini program, two sisters, Jan and Marion Dietrich, were highly considered as astronauts for the program. Why?

Easy Joke Question Designed to Raise Your Score:

  1. What do you call a baby Martian?