THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
207-780-4249      www.usm.maine.edu/planet
70 Falmouth Street     Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N                   70.2667° W
Founded January 1970
Julian date:  2457729.16
                   "I don't know what you could say about a day in which
you have seen four beautiful sunsets."     -John Glenn



*THE DAILY ASTRONOMER*
*Friday, December 9, 2016*
*Quiz XIV:  Space Program*

____________________________
Dedicated to my wonderful friend, MM,
the cold weather wimp.    ;-)
_____________________________

Pioneer astronaut John Glenn died on Thursday.    He was the first American
to orbit Earth and was the longest surviving astronaut of the original
Mercury 7.  In honor of both Glenn and the Space Program, we offer this
quiz about the human endeavor to explore outer space.


1.    Name the seven astronauts who comprised the "Mercury 7."

2.  Who was the only Mercury 7 astronaut to walk on the moon?

3.   When was NASA founded?
a.   1956
b.   1957
c.  1958
d.  1961

4.  Which ONE of the following men did NOT walk on the moon?
a.  David Randolph Scott
b.  Alan Bean
c.  Edgar Mitchell
d.  James Irwin
e.  Eugene Cernan
f.  Norman Schulze

5.   Humans visited the moon for the last time in what year?
a.   1969
b.   1972
c.   1973
d.   1975

6.  Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is noteworthy because___________
a. he was the first human to visit outer space
b. he was the first human to orbit Earth
c.  he was the first cosmonaut on the moon
d.  both a and b
e.  none of the above

7.  As of now,  there have been citizens from _________ different countries
in outer space.
a.  25
b. 40
c.  45
d. 61

8.  Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to visit another planet.  Which
planet did it visit?
a.  Venus
b. Mars
c. Mercury
d.  Jupiter

9.  Who was the first woman in outer space?
a.  Sally Ride
b. Valentina Tereshkova
c.  Judith Resnik
d.  Liu Yang

10.   The International Space Station completes one orbit around Earth
approximately every ____________.
a.  half hour
b. 90 minutes
c.  2 hours
d. one day

ANSWERS

1.

Front row:  Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter
Back row:  Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper
IMAGE:  NASA

2.  Alan Shepard

3..   c.  1958

4.  f.  Norman Schulze

5. b.   1972
The Apollo 17 astronauts  Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan lifted off
from the lunar surface on December 13, 1972.

6. d.  both a and b
On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin completed an orbit around Earth.  His was
the first human voyage into outer space.

7.  b. 40
On September 2, 2015, the first person from Denmark and the first person
from Kazakhstan went into outer space.

8. a.  Venus

9. b. Valentina Tereshkova
Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova went into space on June 16, 1963.   Sally
Ride was the first American woman in outer space.  She launched into space
aboard the seventh Space Shuttle mission in 1983

10. b. 90 minutes


© 2016  Edward Gleason