Q 01/05

Which planet did Pluto slip back outside of on 11 February, ending 20 years as the nearer one to the Sun?

A) Neptune

B) Saturn

C) Jupiter

D) Uranus

Answer · why

A) Neptune

Neptune had been the more distant of the two since February 1979, and Pluto's eccentric orbit will not carry it back inside again until 2231.

Q 02/05

Which NASA spacecraft was lost on arrival in September because Lockheed Martin used US units where NASA expected metric?

A) Mars Polar Lander

B) Mars Climate Orbiter

C) Mars Global Surveyor

D) Mars Pathfinder

Answer · why

B) Mars Climate Orbiter

Mars Climate Orbiter went silent during its orbital insertion burn on 23 September, and the inquiry traced the loss to a mismatch between SI figures a...

Q 03/05

Which country, whose king marked his silver jubilee that year, allowed television broadcasts for the first time in June?

A) Nepal

B) Tonga

C) Bhutan

D) Brunei

Answer · why

C) Bhutan

Bhutan's BBS Television was switched on in the Thimphu area on 2 June with the help of a consultant from Hong Kong, ending the kingdom's years as a na...

Q 04/05

Which March email virus, written by David L. Smith, mailed itself to the first 50 names in a victim's Outlook contacts?

A) Michelangelo

B) Code Red

C) ILOVEYOU

D) Melissa

Answer · why

D) Melissa

Melissa travelled inside infected Word documents, and Smith was arrested within a week, pleading guilty and receiving 20 months in federal prison in 2...

Q 05/05

Which author, hit by a minivan near his Maine home, had his wife buy the van to keep it off eBay?

A) Stephen King

B) Tom Clancy

C) Dean Koontz

D) John Grisham

Answer · why

A) Stephen King

Stephen King landed about 14 feet from the road after Bryan Smith's Dodge van struck him, the driver distracted by an unrestrained dog in the back.