Q 01/05

From which language do the roots of the word 'astronaut' ('star sailor') come?

A) Old Norse

B) Ancient Greek

C) Vedic Sanskrit

D) Classical Latin

Answer · why

B) Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek. The parts are astron, 'star', and nautes, 'sailor', and the word was already in print in science fiction around 1930, three decades bef...

Q 02/05

What informal term is used for space travellers from China's program?

A) Taikonaut

B) Spationaut

C) Vyomanaut

D) Angkasawan

Answer · why

A) Taikonaut

Taikonaut. The word bolts taikong, Chinese for space, onto the ending of astronaut, and was in use online by 1998, five years before China sent anyone...

Q 03/05

At what altitude does the FAI's Kármán line, the boundary of space, sit?

A) 10 km

B) 30 km

C) 100 km

D) 400 km

Answer · why

C) 100 km

100 km. The line is a convention, not a physical edge: the United States gives out astronaut wings from 50 miles up, about 80 km, so tallies of who ha...

Q 04/05

By early 2026, roughly how many people had ever flown in space?

A) About 70

B) About 700

C) About 7,000

D) About 70,000

Answer · why

B) About 700

About 700. Counts run from roughly 650 to 780, depending on whether passengers on brief suborbital tourist hops are counted as space travellers.

Q 05/05

In 1963 Joseph Walker became the first person to reach space twice, flying which rocket plane?

A) X-15

B) X-1

C) U-2

D) SR-71

Answer · why

A) X-15

X-15. Dropped from beneath a B-52 bomber, it took Walker past the international edge of space twice in five weeks, the only one of its pilots ever to ...