Q 01/05

Which Mercury astronaut became the first American in space with a suborbital flight in May 1961?

A) Gus Grissom

B) Alan Shepard

C) Scott Carpenter

D) Gordon Cooper

Answer · why

B) Alan Shepard

Alan Shepard launched about three weeks after the Soviet Union put the first person in orbit. An estimated 45 million Americans watched the launch on ...

Q 02/05

Which chimpanzee rode a Mercury capsule into space in January 1961, three months before the first American astronaut?

A) Enos

B) Sam

C) Ham

D) Able

Answer · why

C) Ham

Ham, named for the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, pushed levers on cue almost as fast as he did on the ground. He was known only as No. 65 until h...

Q 03/05

What did Gus Grissom have painted on the side of his Mercury capsule before his 1961 flight?

A) A gold star

B) A white crack

C) A red stripe

D) An eagle's wing

Answer · why

B) A white crack

A white crack, copied from the real Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, ran about two-thirds of the way up Liberty Bell 7. The capsule sank after splashdown...

Q 04/05

What did Gordon Cooper do on the launch pad during the countdown to the final Mercury flight in 1963?

A) Fell asleep

B) Sang a hymn

C) Read a novel

D) Wrote a letter

Answer · why

A) Fell asleep

Gordon Cooper fell asleep in his capsule before liftoff, and later became the first American to sleep in orbit as well. His flight lasted 34 hours, lo...

Q 05/05

Which Soviet cosmonaut orbited Earth in April 1961, beating Project Mercury's first astronaut into space by three weeks?

A) Gherman Titov

B) Alexei Leonov

C) Yuri Gagarin

D) Valentina Tereshkova

Answer · why

C) Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Gagarin circled the planet once aboard Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961. The Soviets followed that August with a flight lasting a full day, before any ...