80 The Space Race Trivia Questions with Answers

80 public questions with answers, drawn from the well. How many can you answer?

Intermediate Intermediate difficulty.
The Space Race

Which Apollo mission was the first to carry a television camera to the lunar surface?

Answer

Apollo 11

Intermediate Intermediate difficulty.
The Space Race

Who became the first person to spend more than a day in space during Vostok 2?

Answer

Gherman Titov

Easy Easy difficulty.
The Space Race

Which Soviet spacecraft photographed the Moon’s far side for the first time in 1959?

Answer

Luna 3

Hard Hard difficulty.
The Space Race

Which Apollo spacecraft carried astronauts from lunar orbit back to Earth after the first Moon landing?

Answer

Columbia

Intermediate Intermediate difficulty.
The Space Race

Who was the Soviet chief designer widely regarded as the chief architect of the early Soviet space program?

Answer

Sergei Korolev

Easy Easy difficulty.
The Space Race

Which astronaut commanded Apollo 12, the second crewed mission to land on the Moon?

Answer

Charles Conrad

Hard Hard difficulty.
The Space Race

Which Soviet spacecraft first returned samples from the Moon to Earth without carrying astronauts?

Answer

Luna 16

Intermediate Intermediate difficulty.
The Space Race

Which mission performed the first docking between two spacecraft in orbit in March 1966?

Answer

Gemini 8

Easy Easy difficulty.
The Space Race

Which Soviet space station became the first space station when it launched in 1971?

Answer

Salyut 1

Easy Easy difficulty.
The Space Race

Which satellite became the United States’ first artificial satellite when it launched in January 1958?

Answer

Explorer 1

Intermediate Intermediate difficulty.
The Space Race

Which spacecraft made the first successful flyby of Mars in 1965, sending close-up images back to Earth?

Answer

Mariner 4

Easy Easy difficulty.
The Space Race

Which spacecraft became the first artificial satellite when the Soviet Union launched it in 1957?

Answer

Sputnik 1

Hard Hard difficulty.
The Space Race

Which Soviet spacecraft carried the first crew to orbit a space station, in 1971?

Answer

Soyuz 11

Easy Easy difficulty.
The Space Race

Which Apollo mission first carried humans around the Moon in December 1968?

Answer

Apollo 8

Hard Hard difficulty.
The Space Race

Which spacecraft became the first to fly successfully past another planet, reaching Venus in 1962?

Answer

Mariner 2

Intermediate Intermediate difficulty.
The Space Race

Which Soviet probe made the first successful soft landing on the Moon in 1966?

Answer

Luna 9

Intermediate Intermediate difficulty.
The Space Race

Which Gemini mission carried out the first American spacewalk in June 1965?

Answer

Gemini 4

Intermediate Intermediate difficulty.
The Space Race

Which Soviet spacecraft carried the first crew of three people into space in 1964?

Answer

Voskhod 1

Intermediate Intermediate difficulty.
The Space Race

Which Apollo mission became the first crewed spacecraft to orbit the Moon, in December 1968?

Answer

Apollo 8

Easy Easy difficulty.
The Space Race

Who was the first American to travel into space, flying aboard Freedom 7 in 1961?

Answer

Alan Shepard

Easy Easy difficulty.
The Space Race

Which dog became the first animal to orbit Earth, aboard the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2?

Answer

Laika

Hard Hard difficulty.
The Space Race

Which Apollo mission carried the first lunar rover used by astronauts on the Moon?

Answer

Apollo 15

Intermediate Intermediate difficulty.
The Space Race

Which Soviet probe became the first spacecraft to impact the Moon, in September 1959?

Answer

Luna 2

Intermediate Intermediate difficulty.
The Space Race

What was the first space rendezvous between two crewed spacecraft, achieved by Gemini 6A and Gemini 7 in 1965?

Answer

Gemini 6A–Gemini 7 rendezvous

Intermediate Intermediate difficulty.
The Space Race

Which astronaut became the first American to orbit Earth, flying Friendship 7 in 1962?

Answer

John Glenn

Intermediate Intermediate difficulty.
The Space Race

What was the name of the Soviet spacecraft that carried Alexei Leonov on the first spacewalk in 1965?

Answer

Voskhod 2

Easy Easy difficulty.
The Space Race

Which Apollo mission first landed astronauts on the Moon in July 1969?

Answer

Apollo 11

Easy Easy difficulty.
The Space Race

Who became the first woman in space when she flew aboard Vostok 6 in 1963?

Answer

Valentina Tereshkova

Easy Easy difficulty.
The Space Race

Which NASA program sent the first American astronauts into orbit during the Space Race?

Answer

Project Mercury

Easy Easy difficulty.
The Space Race

Which Soviet spacecraft carried Yuri Gagarin on the first human spaceflight in 1961?

Answer

Vostok 1