Space Race Quiz
Laika, Glenn, Tereshkova, Leonov, Apollo 8 and the handshake in orbit: 15 questions on the race to the Moon.
Which US president told Congress in May 1961 that America should land a man on the Moon before the decade was out?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
John F. Kennedy
Kennedy set the goal in a special address to Congress on 25 May 1961, just three weeks after Alan Shepard's brief flight and six weeks after Yuri Gagarin had beaten the Americans into orbit.
He repeated the challenge in his famous 'We choose to go to the Moon' speech at Rice University in Houston in September 1962.
What was the name of the dog that became the first animal to orbit the Earth, aboard Sputnik 2 in November 1957?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Laika
Laika, a stray from the streets of Moscow, was launched aboard Sputnik 2 on 3 November 1957 with no plan for her return, and she died within hours from overheating.
Belka and Strelka became the first dogs to orbit and return alive in 1960, and one of Strelka's puppies was given to President Kennedy's family.
Which Apollo mission was abandoned in April 1970 after an oxygen tank exploded on the way to the Moon?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Apollo 13
An oxygen tank in Apollo 13's service module exploded about 56 hours into the flight, forcing Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise to use the lunar module as a lifeboat and loop around the Moon to get home.
Lovell's actual words were 'Houston, we've had a problem', which the 1995 film changed to the present tense.
Which rocket launched the Apollo astronauts toward the Moon?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Saturn V
The three-stage Saturn V stood 363 feet (111 metres) tall and remains the most powerful rocket ever flown successfully; it launched every crewed lunar mission from Apollo 8 to Apollo 17.
Thirteen Saturn Vs were launched between 1967 and 1973 and not one failed, with the last carrying the Skylab space station into orbit.
Who became the first American to orbit the Earth, in February 1962?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
John Glenn
John Glenn circled the Earth three times in Friendship 7 on 20 February 1962 in a flight of just under five hours, nearly a year after Soviet cosmonauts had first orbited.
In 1998, at the age of 77, Glenn flew on the Space Shuttle Discovery and became the oldest person to fly in space at that time.
Who was the first American in space, flying a 15-minute suborbital flight in May 1961?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Alan Shepard
Alan Shepard flew the Mercury capsule Freedom 7 on 5 May 1961, reaching an altitude of about 116 miles (187 km) before splashing down in the Atlantic 15 minutes after launch.
Shepard later commanded Apollo 14 in 1971 and famously hit two golf balls on the Moon.
Who became the first woman in space, aboard Vostok 6 in June 1963?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Valentina Tereshkova
Valentina Tereshkova, a former textile worker and amateur parachutist, orbited the Earth 48 times over nearly three days in June 1963, logging more time in space than all the American astronauts combined to that point.
No other woman flew in space for 19 years, until Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982, followed by Sally Ride in 1983.
Which cosmonaut carried out the first spacewalk, in March 1965?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Alexei Leonov
Alexei Leonov floated outside Voskhod 2 for about 12 minutes on 18 March 1965, but his suit ballooned so badly in the vacuum that he had to bleed off air to squeeze back through the airlock.
Leonov later commanded the Soviet half of the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975, shaking hands with Tom Stafford in orbit.
Which NASA programme flew two-man crews in 1965 and 1966 to practise the rendezvous, docking and spacewalks needed for a Moon landing?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Gemini
Gemini's ten crewed flights bridged the gap between Mercury and Apollo, achieving the first American spacewalk, the first orbital rendezvous and the first docking with another spacecraft.
Neil Armstrong's first spaceflight was Gemini 8 in 1966, which nearly ended in disaster when a stuck thruster sent the craft spinning.
Which Apollo 11 astronaut stayed in lunar orbit aboard the command module while Armstrong and Aldrin landed?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Michael Collins
Michael Collins piloted the command module Columbia alone for about 21 hours while his crewmates were on the surface, losing all radio contact each time he passed behind the Moon.
The lunar module was named Eagle, which is why Armstrong radioed 'The Eagle has landed' on touchdown.
What was the name of the first American satellite, launched in January 1958?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Explorer 1
Explorer 1 was launched from Cape Canaveral on 31 January 1958 by Wernher von Braun's Army team, less than four months after Sputnik, and its instruments discovered the Van Allen radiation belts.
The Navy's Vanguard rocket had exploded on the launch pad on live television the previous December, a failure newspapers nicknamed Flopnik.
Which Apollo mission in December 1968 was the first to carry humans into orbit around the Moon?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Apollo 8
Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders orbited the Moon ten times on Apollo 8 over Christmas 1968, becoming the first people to leave Earth orbit and to see the far side with their own eyes.
Bill Anders took the famous Earthrise photograph during the fourth orbit, an image often credited with inspiring the environmental movement.
How many people walked on the Moon during the Apollo programme?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
12
Six Apollo missions landed between 1969 and 1972, each putting two astronauts on the surface, for a total of 12 moonwalkers from Neil Armstrong to Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt on Apollo 17.
Apollo 17's Harrison Schmitt was the only trained geologist to walk on the Moon, and Cernan was the last to climb back into the lunar module.
In which year did an American Apollo spacecraft dock with a Soviet Soyuz in orbit, the joint mission usually taken as the end of the Space Race?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
1975
The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project saw the two craft dock on 17 July 1975, after which Tom Stafford and Alexei Leonov shook hands through the hatch in a moment broadcast around the world.
It was the last flight of an Apollo spacecraft, and no American flew in space again until the first Space Shuttle mission in 1981.
Which engineer, known publicly only as the Chief Designer, led the Soviet programme behind Sputnik and Vostok until his death in 1966?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Sergei Korolev
Sergei Korolev masterminded the Soviet Union's early space triumphs, but his identity was a state secret and his name was revealed only after he died following surgery in January 1966.
Korolev had spent years in Stalin's Gulag in the late 1930s, and injuries from that time contributed to the complications that killed him.
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All History quizzes →About the Space Race Quiz
For eighteen years the United States and the Soviet Union raced each other off the planet. The Soviets scored the first satellite, the first animal in orbit, the first man and first woman in space and the first spacewalk, before an American stepped onto the Moon in 1969 and the race ended with a handshake in orbit in 1975.
These 15 questions follow the whole contest: Laika, Explorer 1, Alan Shepard and John Glenn, Valentina Tereshkova, Alexei Leonov, the Gemini missions, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13, the twelve men who walked on the Moon and the mysterious Chief Designer whose name the Soviets kept secret. It suits anyone who loves space history, with harder questions at the end for Apollo enthusiasts.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Medium. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
What years does the Space Race Quiz cover?
From Sputnik and Laika in 1957 to the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975, the joint mission usually taken to mark the end of the Space Race.
Are the Apollo 11 questions the obvious ones?
No. Neil Armstrong's mission already appears in other quizzes, so this one asks about the lunar module, the third crew member and the earlier Apollo flights that made the landing possible.
How hard is the Space Race Quiz?
Medium. The first few questions are well known, the middle needs a decent knowledge of space history and the final questions on Apollo 8, Apollo-Soyuz and Sergei Korolev are for real fans.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- Which US president told Congress in May 1961 that America should land a man on the Moon before the decade was out?
John F. Kennedy Kennedy set the goal in a special address to Congress on 25 May 1961, just three weeks after Alan Shepard's brief flight and six weeks after Yuri Gagarin had beaten the Americans into orbit. He repeated the challenge in his famous 'We choose to go to the Moon' speech at Rice University in Houston in September 1962. - What was the name of the dog that became the first animal to orbit the Earth, aboard Sputnik 2 in November 1957?
Laika Laika, a stray from the streets of Moscow, was launched aboard Sputnik 2 on 3 November 1957 with no plan for her return, and she died within hours from overheating. Belka and Strelka became the first dogs to orbit and return alive in 1960, and one of Strelka's puppies was given to President Kennedy's family. - Which Apollo mission was abandoned in April 1970 after an oxygen tank exploded on the way to the Moon?
Apollo 13 An oxygen tank in Apollo 13's service module exploded about 56 hours into the flight, forcing Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise to use the lunar module as a lifeboat and loop around the Moon to get home. Lovell's actual words were 'Houston, we've had a problem', which the 1995 film changed to the present tense. - Which rocket launched the Apollo astronauts toward the Moon?
Saturn V The three-stage Saturn V stood 363 feet (111 metres) tall and remains the most powerful rocket ever flown successfully; it launched every crewed lunar mission from Apollo 8 to Apollo 17. Thirteen Saturn Vs were launched between 1967 and 1973 and not one failed, with the last carrying the Skylab space station into orbit. - Who became the first American to orbit the Earth, in February 1962?
John Glenn John Glenn circled the Earth three times in Friendship 7 on 20 February 1962 in a flight of just under five hours, nearly a year after Soviet cosmonauts had first orbited. In 1998, at the age of 77, Glenn flew on the Space Shuttle Discovery and became the oldest person to fly in space at that time. - Who was the first American in space, flying a 15-minute suborbital flight in May 1961?
Alan Shepard Alan Shepard flew the Mercury capsule Freedom 7 on 5 May 1961, reaching an altitude of about 116 miles (187 km) before splashing down in the Atlantic 15 minutes after launch. Shepard later commanded Apollo 14 in 1971 and famously hit two golf balls on the Moon. - Who became the first woman in space, aboard Vostok 6 in June 1963?
Valentina Tereshkova Valentina Tereshkova, a former textile worker and amateur parachutist, orbited the Earth 48 times over nearly three days in June 1963, logging more time in space than all the American astronauts combined to that point. No other woman flew in space for 19 years, until Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982, followed by Sally Ride in 1983. - Which cosmonaut carried out the first spacewalk, in March 1965?
Alexei Leonov Alexei Leonov floated outside Voskhod 2 for about 12 minutes on 18 March 1965, but his suit ballooned so badly in the vacuum that he had to bleed off air to squeeze back through the airlock. Leonov later commanded the Soviet half of the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975, shaking hands with Tom Stafford in orbit. - Which NASA programme flew two-man crews in 1965 and 1966 to practise the rendezvous, docking and spacewalks needed for a Moon landing?
Gemini Gemini's ten crewed flights bridged the gap between Mercury and Apollo, achieving the first American spacewalk, the first orbital rendezvous and the first docking with another spacecraft. Neil Armstrong's first spaceflight was Gemini 8 in 1966, which nearly ended in disaster when a stuck thruster sent the craft spinning. - Which Apollo 11 astronaut stayed in lunar orbit aboard the command module while Armstrong and Aldrin landed?
Michael Collins Michael Collins piloted the command module Columbia alone for about 21 hours while his crewmates were on the surface, losing all radio contact each time he passed behind the Moon. The lunar module was named Eagle, which is why Armstrong radioed 'The Eagle has landed' on touchdown. - What was the name of the first American satellite, launched in January 1958?
Explorer 1 Explorer 1 was launched from Cape Canaveral on 31 January 1958 by Wernher von Braun's Army team, less than four months after Sputnik, and its instruments discovered the Van Allen radiation belts. The Navy's Vanguard rocket had exploded on the launch pad on live television the previous December, a failure newspapers nicknamed Flopnik. - Which Apollo mission in December 1968 was the first to carry humans into orbit around the Moon?
Apollo 8 Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders orbited the Moon ten times on Apollo 8 over Christmas 1968, becoming the first people to leave Earth orbit and to see the far side with their own eyes. Bill Anders took the famous Earthrise photograph during the fourth orbit, an image often credited with inspiring the environmental movement. - How many people walked on the Moon during the Apollo programme?
12 Six Apollo missions landed between 1969 and 1972, each putting two astronauts on the surface, for a total of 12 moonwalkers from Neil Armstrong to Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt on Apollo 17. Apollo 17's Harrison Schmitt was the only trained geologist to walk on the Moon, and Cernan was the last to climb back into the lunar module. - In which year did an American Apollo spacecraft dock with a Soviet Soyuz in orbit, the joint mission usually taken as the end of the Space Race?
1975 The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project saw the two craft dock on 17 July 1975, after which Tom Stafford and Alexei Leonov shook hands through the hatch in a moment broadcast around the world. It was the last flight of an Apollo spacecraft, and no American flew in space again until the first Space Shuttle mission in 1981. - Which engineer, known publicly only as the Chief Designer, led the Soviet programme behind Sputnik and Vostok until his death in 1966?
Sergei Korolev Sergei Korolev masterminded the Soviet Union's early space triumphs, but his identity was a state secret and his name was revealed only after he died following surgery in January 1966. Korolev had spent years in Stalin's Gulag in the late 1930s, and injuries from that time contributed to the complications that killed him.
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