History of Space Exploration

Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences,Universityof Wisconsin - Green Bay
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  1. Known as the Chief Designer, his existence was kept strictly secret by the Soviet Union:
    1. Sergei Korolev
    2. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
    3. Hermann Oberth
    4. Yuri Gagarin
  2. Probably the most successful test aircraft ever built:
    1. V-1
    2. V-2
    3. X-15
    4. L-1011
  3. The first cruise missile:
    1. V-1
    2. V-2
    3. X-15
    4. L-1011
  4. The first true ballistic missile to leave the Earth's atmosphere:
    1. V-1
    2. V-2
    3. X-15
    4. L-1011
  5. All but one of the following are reasons why the Soviet Union led in rocket boosters for several years early in the Space Age. Pick the one that is not.
    1. They needed powerful boosters for their military missiles.
    2. They had help from the best German scientists.
    3. The U.S. relied more on manned bombers than rockets.
    4. The U.S. preferred to wait until nuclear weapons got smaller before buildingmissiles.
  6. Which is true of rockets and jets?
    1. They move by pushing against the air
    2. Rockets take off by pushing against the ground
    3. They move by pushing matter out
    4. Neither require oxygen to function
  7. When a rocket takes off, most of its mass is:
    1. Fuel and Oxygen
    2. Supplies for the crew
    3. Cargo destined for orbit
    4. Shielding to protect against air friction, cosmic rays, and meteorites
  8. The top-secret "Chief Designer"
    1. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
    2. Sergei Korolev
    3. Hermann Oberth
    4. Werner von Braun
    5. Robert Goddard
  9. Started rocketry in Germany
    1. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
    2. Sergei Korolev
    3. Hermann Oberth
    4. Werner von Braun
    5. Robert Goddard
  10. Built first liquid-fuel rocket
    1. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
    2. Sergei Korolev
    3. Hermann Oberth
    4. Werner von Braun
    5. Robert Goddard
  11. Worked for U.S. after World War II
    1. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
    2. Sergei Korolev
    3. Hermann Oberth
    4. Werner von Braun
    5. Robert Goddard
  12. German who headed America's Space Program
    1. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
    2. Sergei Korolev
    3. Hermann Oberth
    4. Werner von Braun
    5. Robert Goddard
  13. A Russian who worked out most theoretical problems of space flight
    1. Robert Goddard
    2. Hermann Oberth
    3. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
    4. Sergei Korolev
    5. Werner von Braun
  14. How does a rocket differ from a jet?
    1. A rocket pushes against the ground, a jet doesn't.
    2. A jet pushes against the air, a rocket doesn't.
    3. A rocket carries its own oxygen, a jet gets its from the air.
    4. Rockets can exceed the speed of sound, a jet can't.
  15. What role did German scientists play in the Soviet space program?
    1. They built knock-off V-2's but had no contact with the main program
    2. The "Chief Designer" was German
    3. They corrected numerous major flaws and got the program on the right track
    4. They were the principal forces behind the program
  16. Why did the Russians lead in lift capability at first?
    1. They needed it to lift their bulky nuclear weapons
    2. They stole secrets from the U.S. through espionage
    3. They wanted big rockets for national prestige
    4. They wanted it to be able to reach the Moon.
    5. Their fuel was more efficient
  17. The first U.S. manned space program:
    1. Mercury
    2. Gemini
    3. Apollo
    4. Skylab
    5. Soyuz
  18. How much time in space did America have when Kennedy committed us to a moonlanding?
    1. None
    2. 15 minutes
    3. 3 orbits (5 hours)
    4. 24 hours
  19. Which was an American space first?
    1. First woman in space
    2. First two-spacecraft mission
    3. First 24-hour space flight
    4. First water landing

    In the next seven questions, match the individual with the correct description. More than one answer may be correct.

  20. Oldest man in space
    1. John Glenn
    2. Yuri Gagarin
    3. Gherman Titov
    4. Neil Armstrong
    5. Alan Shepard
    6. Gus Grissom
    7. Valentina Tereshkova 
  21. First human in space
    1. John Glenn
    2. Yuri Gagarin
    3. Gherman Titov
    4. Neil Armstrong
    5. Alan Shepard
    6. Gus Grissom
    7. Valentina Tereshkova 
  22. First American in orbit
    1. John Glenn
    2. Yuri Gagarin
    3. Gherman Titov
    4. Neil Armstrong
    5. Alan Shepard
    6. Gus Grissom
    7. Valentina Tereshkova 
  23. First man on the Moon
    1. John Glenn
    2. Yuri Gagarin
    3. Gherman Titov
    4. Neil Armstrong
    5. Alan Shepard
    6. Gus Grissom
    7. Valentina Tereshkova 
  24. First American in space
    1. John Glenn
    2. Yuri Gagarin
    3. Gherman Titov
    4. Neil Armstrong
    5. Alan Shepard
    6. Gus Grissom
    7. Valentina Tereshkova 
  25. Died in a launch pad accident
    1. John Glenn
    2. Yuri Gagarin
    3. Gherman Titov
    4. Neil Armstrong
    5. Alan Shepard
    6. Gus Grissom
    7. Valentina Tereshkova 
  26. Had his capsule sink on landing 
    1. John Glenn
    2. Yuri Gagarin
    3. Gherman Titov
    4. Neil Armstrong
    5. Alan Shepard
    6. Gus Grissom
    7. Valentina Tereshkova 
  27. List the programs in chronological order:
    1. Mercury, Apollo, Gemini
    2. Mercury, Gemini, Apollo
    3. Apollo, Mercury, Gemini
    4. Gemini, Apollo, Mercury
  28. What killed three American astronauts in 1967?
    1. Their parachute failed on re-entry
    2. Their spacecraft lost pressurization
    3. Their retro-rocket failed, leaving them stranded
    4. There was a fire during a test on the launch pa
  29. In Russian, "sputnik" means:
    1. Socialism
    2. Victory
    3. Communism
    4. Universe
    5. Satellite
  30. Ranger and Surveyor were:
    1. Military reconnaissance satellites
    2. Weather satellites
    3. Early communications satellites
    4. Probes to Mars and Venus
    5. Unmanned lunar probes
  31. This U.S. president was in office when the first satellites were launched and tried to calm public fears of a "missile gap" with the Soviet Union:
    1. Truman
    2. Eisenhower
    3. Kennedy
    4. Johnson
    5. Nixon
  32. The only U.S. president to hold office when humans landed on the Moon:
    1. Truman
    2. Eisenhower
    3. Kennedy
    4. Johnson
    5. Nixon
  33. This U.S. president challenged the Soviet Union to a race to the Moon:
    1. Truman
    2. Eisenhower
    3. Kennedy
    4. Johnson
    5. Nixon
  34. The basic theoretical problems of space travel were first identified and solved by:
    1. Galileo and Copernicus
    2. Amateur space enthusiasts of the 1930's and 1940's
    3. German rocket scientists working for the Soviet Union
    4. NASA engineers in the Apollo Program
    5. Science fiction writers of the 1950's
  35. Which spacecraft carried only a single crew member?
    1. Voskhod
    2. Mercury
    3. Gemini
    4. Apollo
  36. The only manned program ever to go beyond Earth orbit
    1. Vostok
    2. Voskhod
    3. Mercury
    4. Gemini
    5. Apollo
  37. Lyndon Johnson was a staunch supporter of the space program but also caused it a great deal of harm through:
    1. political scandals.
    2. excessive bureaucracy.
    3. involving the U.S. in Vietnam.
    4. refusal to hire minority employees. 

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Created 6 February 2001, Last Update 21 January 2002

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