Space Quiz: 18 Questions on Planets, Moons and Missions

Space is the friendliest of the science categories, because most of it is visible from a back garden and the rest turns up in films. These eighteen questions cover the planets, the Moon landings and a few things at the edge of the solar system that catch people out.

Easy space questions

1. Which planet is known as the Red Planet? — Mars
2. What is the closest star to Earth? — The Sun
3. Who was the first human to walk on the Moon? — Neil Armstrong
4. Which planet has the most visible rings? — Saturn
5. What galaxy do we live in? — The Milky Way
6. How many planets are in our solar system? — Eight

Medium space questions

1. Which planet is the largest in the solar system? — Jupiter
2. In which year did Apollo 11 land on the Moon? — 1969
3. What was the first artificial satellite launched into orbit? — Sputnik 1
4. Which planet spins on its side relative to its orbit? — Uranus
5. What is the name of Jupiter’s largest moon? — Ganymede
6. Who was the first woman in space? — Valentina Tereshkova

Hard space questions

1. How long does sunlight take to reach Earth? — About eight minutes
2. What is the name of the boundary around a black hole? — The event horizon
3. Which space telescope launched in 1990? — The Hubble Space Telescope
4. What is the largest volcano in the solar system? — Olympus Mons, on Mars
5. Which probe left the solar system in 2012? — Voyager 1
6. What is the hottest planet in the solar system? — Venus

Venus catches almost everybody: it is further from the Sun than Mercury but hotter, because its atmosphere traps the heat.