Q 01/05

The International Space Station is operated by how many national or regional space agencies?

A) Five

B) Three

C) Two

D) Nine

Answer · why

A) Five

NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA and Canada's CSA, spanning fifteen countries in the most legally complex space programme in history.

Q 02/05

The ISS has been continuously inhabited since the arrival of Expedition 1 in which year?

A) 2000

B) 2001

C) 2003

D) 2005

Answer · why

A) 2000

That is the longest continuous human presence in space; the first module had gone up two years earlier.

Q 03/05

Roughly how high above Earth does the ISS orbit?

A) 100 km (60 miles)

B) 400 km (250 miles)

C) 1,000 km (620 miles)

D) 36,000 km (22,000 miles)

Answer · why

B) 400 km (250 miles)

That keeps it below the Van Allen radiation belts and most space debris; the orbit still decays and needs regular reboosts.

Q 04/05

How long does the ISS take to complete one orbit of Earth?

A) About 24 minutes

B) About 45 minutes

C) About 93 minutes

D) About 3 hours

Answer · why

C) About 93 minutes

It circles the planet 15.5 times a day at 7.67 km/s, so the crew sees a sunrise or sunset roughly every 45 minutes.

Q 05/05

Including its solar arrays, the ISS is about as large as what?

A) A football field

B) An aircraft carrier

C) A city block

D) A tennis court

Answer · why

A) A football field

It measures 109 by 73 metres, with a pressurised volume comparable to a Boeing 747.