🚀 Astronauts & Spacefarers Trivia Questions & Answers
Armstrong, Gagarin and the people who've flown into space. Below are 30 free astronauts & spacefarers trivia questions with answers — part of Space trivia on BUZZ. Want a real challenge that adapts to what you know? Play the Space quiz — no signup needed to start.
30 Astronauts & Spacefarers trivia questions
Q1. In 1983, this NASA astronaut became the first American woman to fly in space — who was she?
Answer: Sally Ride
💡 Ride was chosen from NASA's first astronaut class open to women, selected out of more than 8,000 applicants in 1978.
Q2. Which astronaut, America's first to orbit Earth, returned to space at 77 on STS-95 in 1998?
Answer: John Glenn
💡 The flight came 36 years after his 1962 Friendship 7 orbit, and researchers used the trip to study weightlessness and aging side by side.
Q3. Meet Ham: he pulled levers in space months before any human astronaut — what kind of animal was he?
Answer: Chimpanzee
💡 Ham's smooth January 1961 test flight cleared the way for Alan Shepard's own launch just three months later.
Q4. Who became the first African American woman in space in 1992, saluting her shifts Star Trek-style?
Answer: Mae Jemison
💡 Jemison, a lifelong Star Trek fan, later fulfilled a dream by appearing in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Q5. America's first astronaut class, unveiled to a frenzied press in 1959, went by what famous nickname?
Answer: The Mercury Seven
💡 Grissom, Glenn, Shepard, Slayton, Schirra, Cooper, and Carpenter became overnight national heroes the moment their names were announced.
Q6. Which astronaut became the first woman to command a Space Shuttle mission, leading STS-93 in 1999?
Answer: Eileen Collins
💡 She'd already broken ground as the first female shuttle pilot in 1995 — commanding one four years later made her a two-time barrier-breaker.
Q7. Which David Bowie song did Chris Hadfield film as the first zero-g music video, aboard the ISS in 2013?
Answer: Space Oddity
💡 Bowie himself watched it and called Hadfield's cover 'possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created.'
Q8. Which Gemini 4 astronaut became the first American ever to walk in space, back in June 1965?
Answer: Ed White
💡 He floated for 23 minutes on a 25-foot tether using a hand-held oxygen gun, and later called climbing back inside the saddest moment of his life.
Q9. Before any dog or monkey, which tiny critter became the first animal launched into space, in 1947?
Answer: Fruit flies
💡 The flies rode a captured German V-2 rocket 68 miles up and parachuted back down completely unharmed.
Q10. As of 2026 he's still the youngest ever to orbit Earth, at 25 in 1961 — which cosmonaut?
Answer: Gherman Titov
💡 He remains the youngest ever to orbit Earth — though in 2021 an 18-year-old space tourist edged him out for 'youngest in space' on a suborbital hop.
Q11. This U.S. Air Force officer became the first African American to fly in space, in 1983 — who was he?
Answer: Guion Bluford
💡 Bluford was actually the world's second person of color in space — Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez beat him to it in 1980.
Q12. In April 2026, who became the first woman ever to fly beyond low Earth orbit, circling the Moon?
Answer: Christina Koch
💡 Her Artemis II crew also set a new record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from Earth — 252,756 miles.
Q13. Who served as NASA's Earth-bound control while astronaut Scott Kelly spent 340 days in orbit?
Answer: His identical twin brother
💡 The twin was Mark Kelly — a former astronaut himself who later became a U.S. Senator for Arizona.
Q14. In 2001, which businessman paid roughly $20 million to become the first paying space tourist?
Answer: Dennis Tito
💡 NASA's own administrator publicly objected to the trip — Tito flew to the ISS anyway, for nearly eight days.
Q15. As of 2026, who is the oldest person ever to reach space, flying aboard Blue Origin in 2024?
Answer: Ed Dwight
💡 JFK-era officials tapped Dwight as America's first Black astronaut candidate in 1961, but NASA passed him over — Blue Origin finally flew him six decades later.
Q16. This aerospace engineer became the first Indian-born woman to fly in space, in 1997 — who was she?
Answer: Kalpana Chawla
💡 On that debut flight, Chawla operated the shuttle's robotic arm as a mission specialist.
Q17. Which Apollo 11 astronaut circled the Moon alone while his crewmates made the first moonwalk?
Answer: Michael Collins
💡 Collins later said the solitary hours were peaceful, not lonely — he called the command module 'a happy little home.'
Q18. Before leaving the Moon in 1972, Charlie Duke set a small laminated keepsake on the ground — what was it?
Answer: Family photo
💡 He wanted his kids to feel like they'd gone to the Moon too, so he left a picture of his wife and sons with a handwritten message on the back.
Q19. Which astronaut journeyed to the Moon twice, on Apollo 8 and Apollo 13, without ever landing on it?
Answer: Jim Lovell
💡 The only other two men who reached the Moon twice, Young and Cernan, both eventually walked on it — Lovell never got the chance.
Q20. Which Apollo 17 moonwalker was the only professional geologist to ever set foot on the Moon?
Answer: Harrison Schmitt
💡 His trained eye helped the crew pick a sample later nicknamed 'Troctolite 76535' — called one of the most scientifically important Moon rocks ever collected.
Q21. In 2007, Sunita Williams became the first person to run which iconic road race while orbiting Earth?
Answer: Boston Marathon
💡 She registered as an official entrant with bib number 14,000 and finished in about 4 hours 24 minutes — while actually traveling 17,500 mph.
Q22. Who became the first Canadian in space, flying aboard shuttle Challenger's STS-41-G mission in 1984?
Answer: Marc Garneau
💡 He later led the Canadian Space Agency and went on to serve as a federal cabinet minister.
Q23. What was the name of the September 2021 flight carrying the first all-civilian crew to orbit Earth?
Answer: Inspiration4
💡 Commanded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, the three-day flight never docked with the ISS and helped raise over $243 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Q24. Which actor, famous for playing a Starfleet captain, rocketed to space on Blue Origin in 2021?
Answer: William Shatner
💡 At 90 years old, he became the oldest person to reach space at the time, and came back visibly shaken by how fragile Earth looked from up there.
Q25. Who was the last human to walk on the Moon, closing out the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972?
Answer: Gene Cernan
💡 Before climbing the ladder for the last time, he said he believed humans would return 'not too long' after — more than 50 years later, nobody has.
Q26. What were the names of the two Soviet dogs who first orbited Earth and returned alive, in 1960?
Answer: Belka and Strelka
💡 One of Strelka's puppies, Pushinka, was gifted by Khrushchev to the Kennedy family at the White House.
Q27. Before Tim Peake, which chemist won a radio contest to become the first Briton in space, in 1991?
Answer: Helen Sharman
💡 She trained 18 months in Russia after being chosen from 13,000 applicants to fly to the Mir space station.
Q28. In 1992, which two NASA astronauts became the first married couple on the same shuttle mission?
Answer: Jan Davis and Mark Lee
💡 The couple married in secret in 1991 — NASA only turned its unwritten 'no couples' rule into official policy afterward.
Q29. In 2003, this fighter pilot became China's first person in space, aboard Shenzhou 5 — who was he?
Answer: Yang Liwei
💡 The 21-hour flight made China only the third nation ever to independently launch a human into orbit.
Q30. Which astronaut is the only person ever to fly in NASA's Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle programs?
Answer: John Young
💡 He commanded Apollo 16's moon landing and, nine years later, commanded STS-1 — the very first Space Shuttle flight.
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