Q 01/05

Between 1981 and 2011, how many missions did the Space Shuttle fleet fly in total?

A) 100

B) 135

C) 200

D) 85

Answer · why

B) 135

Five orbiters flew in space; a sixth, Enterprise, never left the atmosphere.

Q 02/05

What did the programme's official abbreviation STS stand for?

A) Shuttle Transit Service

B) Space Transportation System

C) Standard Transit Shuttle

D) Solid Thrust System

Answer · why

B) Space Transportation System

The name came from a 1969 plan led by Vice President Spiro Agnew for a whole family of reusable spacecraft, of which only the Shuttle was funded.

Q 03/05

On what date did the Space Shuttle launch for the first time, on mission STS-1?

A) April 12, 1981

B) July 4, 1982

C) January 28, 1979

D) November 11, 1980

Answer · why

A) April 12, 1981

It was exactly 20 years after Yuri Gagarin's first human spaceflight.

Q 04/05

Which two astronauts flew STS-1, the first Space Shuttle mission?

A) Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin

B) John Young and Robert Crippen

C) Ken Mattingly and Henry Hartsfield

D) Fred Haise and Gordon Fullerton

Answer · why

B) John Young and Robert Crippen

It was the first time NASA had put a crew aboard a spacecraft on its very first flight; the mission lasted two days.

Q 05/05

Which US president approved development of the Space Shuttle in January 1972?

A) Richard Nixon

B) Lyndon Johnson

C) Gerald Ford

D) Jimmy Carter

Answer · why

A) Richard Nixon

NASA settled on the final design two months later and awarded the orbiter contract that August.