Quiz of the Day
Space Exploration
Thursday, 9 April 2026
Yuri's Night week — history of space firsts, Gagarin's 1961 flight (65th anniversary on Apr 12)
1. Who was the first human to travel into space?
- Yuri Gagarin
- Alan Shepard
- Valentina Tereshkova
- John Glenn
Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth on April 12, 1961, in a flight lasting just 108 minutes aboard Vostok 1.
2. What was the name of the first artificial satellite launched into orbit?
- Explorer 1
- Vanguard 1
- Luna 1
- Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 was launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, and its radio beeps could be picked up by amateur radio operators worldwide.
3. Which space agency launched the Hubble Space Telescope?
- JAXA
- Roscosmos
- ESA
- NASA
Hubble was launched in 1990 and initially had a flawed mirror — astronauts installed corrective optics in 1993 during a daring spacewalk repair mission.
4. How many people have walked on the Moon?
- 12
- 8
- 6
- 14
All 12 moonwalkers were American men who landed during the Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972.
5. What is the farthest human-made object from Earth?
- Voyager 1
- Pioneer 10
- New Horizons
- Voyager 2
Voyager 1 entered interstellar space in 2012 and is over 15 billion miles from Earth — it carries a Golden Record with sounds and images of life on Earth.
6. What does ISS stand for?
- International Space Station
- International Satellite Service
- Interplanetary Space System
- Inter-Space Structure
The ISS orbits Earth roughly every 90 minutes, meaning astronauts on board see 16 sunrises and sunsets every day.
7. Which planet did the Perseverance rover land on in February 2021?
- Saturn
- Mars
- Venus
- Jupiter
Perseverance also carried Ingenuity, a small helicopter that became the first powered aircraft to fly on another planet.
8. Who was the first woman in space?
- Sally Ride
- Valentina Tereshkova
- Svetlana Savitskaya
- Mae Jemison
Valentina Tereshkova orbited Earth 48 times over nearly three days in June 1963 — she was just 26 years old.
9. What was the first space station ever launched?
- Skylab
- Salyut 1
- Tiangong 1
- Mir
The Soviet Union launched Salyut 1 in April 1971, beating the American Skylab by two years.
10. Which rocket company achieved the first successful landing of an orbital-class rocket booster?
- SpaceX
- ULA
- Rocket Lab
- Blue Origin
SpaceX's Falcon 9 first successfully landed a booster in December 2015, revolutionising rocket reusability and dramatically cutting launch costs.
11. What gas makes up most of the atmosphere on Mars?
- Nitrogen
- Argon
- Oxygen
- Carbon dioxide
Mars's atmosphere is about 95% carbon dioxide, and its atmospheric pressure is less than 1% of Earth's — you'd need a pressurised suit to survive.
12. Which Apollo mission was the first to land humans on the Moon?
- Apollo 13
- Apollo 11
- Apollo 8
- Apollo 10
Neil Armstrong's famous first step happened on July 20, 1969. Buzz Aldrin joined him on the surface while Michael Collins orbited above in the command module.
13. What is the name of NASA's most powerful rocket, first launched in 2022?
- Space Launch System (SLS)
- Delta IV Heavy
- Saturn V
- Falcon Heavy
SLS is designed to send astronauts back to the Moon under the Artemis programme, producing 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff.
14. Which country launched the first lunar rover?
- India
- China
- Soviet Union
- United States
Lunokhod 1, launched in 1970, roamed the Moon's surface for nearly a year and was controlled remotely from Earth — an incredible feat for the era.
15. What is the approximate speed needed to escape Earth's gravitational pull?
- 3.2 km/s
- 15.5 km/s
- 11.2 km/s
- 7.9 km/s
Earth's escape velocity is about 40,320 km/h (25,020 mph) — that's roughly 33 times the speed of sound at sea level.