NASA Turns Fifty

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. This type of spin stabilized spacecraft made successful explorations of the Sun, Earth's Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus. Mercury VII Jupiter C Saturn V Pioneer

2. Previous to the creation of NASA, Explorer I was launched into orbit by the United States. Who was responsible for the project? U.S. Air Force U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency University of Iowa CIA

3. The Viking missions to Mars were to involve orbiters and landers that took how long to reach their destination? three years they never functionally arrived six to eight weeks ten to eleven months

4. For all of the splash that Skylab made, how long was it manned by NASA? twenty four weeks three years eighty four days Skylab was unmanned

5. The space probe 'Galileo' was launched from the cargo bay of Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1989, traveled approximately 2.8 billion miles, and crashed into what, ending its mission? Mars an asteroid Jupiter the Indian ocean

6. Everyone is familiar with Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong, who was the first to set foot on the moon. Others will recall the transmission of the ill fated Apollo 13, "Houston, we have a problem". How many Apollo flights actually made safe lunar landings? 17 3 6 11

7. If you have "the Right Stuff", you can spot the astronaut who was NOT one of the "Mercury Seven" astronauts. Cooper Young Schirra Slayton

8. What was the name of the Space Mission that bridged the gap between John Glenn's flight and the Apollo space mission? Friendship Mercury Titan Gemini

9. Perhaps the most noted Space Shuttle mission was the Challenger tragedy of January 28, 1986. Had the tragedy not occurred, what was the mission for the Challenger STS-51L? launch and retrieve the Spartan satellite Teacher in Space experiments study Haley's Comet all are correct

10. By the time the Space Shuttle Atlantis docked for the first time with Russia's MIR Space Station in 1995, the two vehicles were directly above what famous geographical feature? Mt. Rushmore The White House Lake Baikal Chernobyl