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
"The result of billions of years of evolution!"
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Friday, July 8, 2016
Quiz: First on the Moon
This month we commemorate the ______th anniversary of the Apollo ___ moon
landing. To celebrate this important anniversary, we offer this quick quiz
pertaining to the first human landing on another world.
1. Neil Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 mission that brought him and
Buzz Aldrin to the lunar surface in 1969. The mission included one other
astronaut who remained in orbit while Neil and Buzz meandered around the
Moon. Who was this third astronaut?
a. James Lovell
b. Pete Conrad
c. Michael Collins
d. Walter Koenig
2. Approximately how much time did Neil and Buzz spend walking on the moon?
a. 10 minutes
b. 1 hour
c. 93 minutes
d. 2 hours
3. Buzz Aldrin was never quite as shy as Neil Armstrong. Buzz Aldrin has
done all but which ONE of the following:
a. Appeared on "Dancing with the Stars."
b. Did a guest appearance on "The Simpsons."
c. Spent two weeks in Central Africa and allowed pygmies to
worship him as a deity
d. Collaborated with Snoop Dogg and Quincy Jones to create a
rap single and video.
e. Punched Moon Hoax conspiracy theorist Bart Sibrel in the jaw.
4. What did Neil Armstrong do after he retired from NASA in 1971?
a. Became an aerospace engineering professor
b. Ran the "Armstrong Planetarium and Science Museum" in Ohio
c. Retired to seclusion and didn't pursue a career
d. Became a missionary who worked principally in Asia until
the late 90's
5. The suit of equipment that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin used weighed
nearly 500 pounds! How were they able to carry such loads around with
them on the Moon?
a. Prior to being accepted into the Apollo program, any
astronaut had to be able to bench press 2.13 times their body weight.
Therefore, they were both able to manuever despite being so encumbered.
b. The Moon's gravity is 1/6th that of Earth's so the
equipment wasn't nearly as much of a burden on the Moon as it was here.
c. The equipment had "retrothrusters" that induced an upward
motion, which helped the astronauts carry their loads much more easily.
d. They actually only walked a few steps. Most of the time
they rode around in the lunar rover.
6. Which of the following curious statements is true? (Could be more than
one)
a. Buzz Aldrin's mother's maiden name was "Moon."
b. The original "Star Trek" series ended about one month
before the Apollo 11 moon landing.
c. Neil Armstrong's first step onto the moon wasn't that
small. He had to hop 3.5 feet down from the ladder onto the Moon's surface.
d. The module from which they alighted onto the Moon had one
door without an outer handle. If Buzz Aldrin had closed the door behind
them, the two astronauts would have been in a bit of a jam.
7. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were:
a. Born in the same state
b. Born in the same year
c. Each born with eleven toes (the secret feature that
induced NASA to select them as the two first astronauts to walk on the
Moon's highly compressible surface)
d. Born on July 4th, in different years
8. This year, we're celebrating the ____th anniversary of the Apollo _____
moon landing.
a. 47; 11
b. 48; 11
c. 46; 12
d. 49; 13
9. The moon was in the _____________ phase during the first moon landing.
a. full
b. new
c. waxing crescent
d. waning crescent
10. How many astronauts have walked on the moon altogether?
a. 8
b. 12
c. 14
d. 16
ANSWERS
1. c. Michael Collins
2. d. 2 hours
3. c. Spent two weeks in Central Africa and allowed pygmies to worship him
as a deity
4. a. Became an aerospace engineering professor
5. b. The Moon's gravity is 1/6th that of Earth's so the equipment wasn't
nearly as much of a burden on the Moon as it was here.
6. All of those statements are true
7. b. Born in the same year (1930). Neil was born in Ohio; Buzz in New
Jersey
8. a. 47; 11
Apollo 11 reached the moon's surface on July 20, 1969.
9. c. waxing crescent
10. b. 12