Constellations
There are how many Greek Zodiac constellations?
12 constellations
This planet looks reddish due to oxidization — or rusting — of iron in the rocks that make up the soil or regolith.
What is Mars
What is the common name for a meteor?
What is a shooting star- when a meteor enters the Earth’s atmosphere at a very high speed. it burns up and produces a streak of light that we call a shooting star
Astronomers use this unit to describe distances between stars and galaxies due to the incredible size of our Universe
Who was the first astronaut on the moon?
Neil Armstrong
Three processing methods are used to keep food fresh for years without refrigeration for astronaut use including thermostabilizing (like canned goods), irradiating, and what other method?
Freeze-drying
Polaris, also known as the "North Star" is a navigational point that is included in which constellation?
Ursa Minor
The giant planets in the outer solar system don't have hard surfaces. Instead, they have swirling gases above a core. Jupiter and Saturn are gas giants. Uranus and Nepture are what type of giants?
What are ice giants
Unlike an asteroid that is made up of rocky material, a comet is composed of what two things?
What are ice and dust.
Fun fact, when a comet gets close to the Sun, its ice and dust content start to vaporize. So, when seen in a telescope, a comet appears fuzzy and/or has a tail.
This galaxy contains our solar system
True or false: Astronauts sleep in space by falling asleep where they are and floating freely about the shuttle cabin.
False, astronauts sleep in special sleeping bags attached to the walls so they do not drift into things while dreaming.
This ethnic bread substitute has been a staple aboard the International Space Station (ISS) since 1985.
What are tortillas
Besides being delicious, tortillas produce fewer crumbs that could float around the station in microgravity compared to bread and other baked goods making them versatile enough to be eaten regularly in space.
Pegasus, one of the most prominent constellations in the northern sky was named after the winged horse of Greek legend. According to the Greeks, Pegasus was birthed from the blood of a decapitated woman. Who was this woman?
Medusa the Gorgon
The inner planets are also known by this name because they have solid surfaces
What are terrestrial planets
True or false, the asteroid belt in our solar system lies between Earth and Saturn
False: the asteroid belt in our solar system lies between Mars and Jupiter
8 minutes and 20 seconds
The term “astronaut” derives from Greek words and translates to this
What is "star sailor"
This Vitamin C rich drink powder was developed by General Foods Corporation and was later adopted by NASA for use in the Mercury food system. “Orange Drink”, as it is referred to by NASA, has been used continuously since that time and is still consumed by crewmembers on the International Space Station today.
Tang
The Astronomical Union officially recognizes how many constellations?
88 constellations
This planet has the shortest orbit around the sun, completed in approximately 88 Earth days.
What is Mercury
This American scientific program employs two interstellar probes, originally launched in 1977 to explore the outer regions of our solar system
What is the Voyager Program
Our solar system is incredibly large with a diamater of 200,000 AU, or 30 trillion kilometers! What is the approximate diameter of our solar system in light years?
About 3 light years
True of false: Without gravity squishing their spines, astronauts can grow up to two inches taller in space.
True, though their spine compresses and they shrink to their original height when they return to Earth.
International Space Station (ISS) meals need to last up to 3 years. For future missions to the planet Mars, approximately how long would the food need to last?
Mars missions would require food to last 5 to 7 years.
How many officially recognized constellations have their names start with the letter "C"?
22 Constellations
This planet has the shortest "day" in the solar system, taking only 9.9 hours to rotate once.
What is Jupiter
This famous short-period comet returns to the inner solar system every 75 to 76 years.
What is Halley's Comet
This region of our solar system is a doughnut-shaped region of icy objects beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is home to Pluto and most of the known dwarf planets and some comets.
Who was the first woman astronaut in space?
Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space on June 16, 1963.
Additionally, she is the only woman to date that has completed a solo mission
Because dry powdered seasonings would float around and damage equipment in microgravity, what change is made to seasonings in space to store them effectively.
What is liquification?
Salt is dissolved in water, and pepper is suspended in oil so the spices do not float into the air.
How many constellations lie completely within the Northern Hemisphere?
28 constellations
This planet has 274 confirmed moons in its orbit, far more than any other planet in our solar system
What is Saturn
About how many satellites currently in space belong to the United States fleet?
As of late 2026, the United States operates over 11,000 active satellites in space. This fleet represents nearly 70% of all functioning spacecraft globally.
Compared to our planet, Earth, which is about 4.54 billion years old, the Universe itself is much older. About how old is the universe according to scientists?
The universe is about 13.8 billion years old.
A spacesuit weighs approximately how many pounds on Earth?
A spacesuit weighs around 280 pounds on Earth, but feels light as a feather when floating in space.
Astronauts commonly suffer from stuffy sinuses in space due to lack of gravity. This often results in a temporary loss of smell and taste while in space. Because of their impaired sense of smell and taste, astronauts have been known to prefer this flavor in space.
What is spicy/spiciness
Hydra, the Female Water Snake, is the largest constellation and covers approximately what percentage of the night sky?
What is 3 percent
This planet is the densest in the Solar System due namely to its massive iron-nickel core.
What is Earth
This piece of solid rock, most commonly made of silicate minerals (including chondrites and achondrites), are debris from a celestial body—such as an asteroid, comet, or meteoroid—that originates in outer space and survives its passage through Earth's atmosphere to land on the surface.
What is a meteorite
This term describes the boundary around a black hole beyond which, not even light can escape
What is the event horizon
Since it's inception, NASA has selected how many astronaut candidates?
What is 370
What was the first food eaten in space?
Beef and liver paste followed by a tube of chocolate sauce consumed by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961.
This Greek astronomer catalogued 48 classic constellations in the 2nd century, with names largely rooted in Greek mythology and Babylonian traditions.
Who is Ptolemy
This planet spins backwards from the rest of the planets in our solar system, meaning the Sun rises in the west and sets in the East.
What is Venus
The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, a massive space rock roughly 6 to 9 miles (10 to 15 kilometers) wide that struck Earth 66 million years ago, was named what?
What is the Chicxulub impactor
What is the name of the nearest star system to the Milky Way, located about 4.37 light-years away from our Sun?
What is the Alpha Centauri System
As of 2026, how many people have traveled into space past the 100km Karman line?
What is 781 people (from 55 countries)
In 1972, new packaging was designed for food on the United State's first space station, including a new food tray that held food in place and also warmed it. What was the name of the space station?
Skylab
What are informal star patterns such as the the Big Dipper inside the official constellation Ursa Major, called?
What is an asterism
This planet has two sets of rings, with nine in the first set and two in the second (11 total)
What is Uranus
This program, create in 1979 looks for ways to create less orbital debris, and designs equipment to track and remove the debris already in space.
What is the NASA Orbital Debris Program
The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way is named what?
Sagittarius A*
The closest experience to weightlessness on Earth is underwater training. NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) contains a giant pool where astronauts practice extravehicular activities (EVAs), commonly known as what?
What are spacewalks
In what year did "The Sandwich Incident" take place in which, astronaut John Young smuggled a corned beef sandwich onto a Gemini flight, but floating crumbs threatened the spacecraft's electronics?
What is 1965
The second-brightest star in the consetllation of Orion marks the right shoulder of the hunter rather than his belt. What is the name of this star?
Betelgeuse
This planet has winds that can whip clouds of frozen methane across the planet at speeds of more than 1,200 miles per hour, making it our solar system's windiest planet
What is Neptune
To better organize U.S. efforts to track asteroids that might one day threaten Earth, NASA established this office in 2016.
What is the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO)
The universe is expanding at a rate of roughly 67 to 74 kilometers per second for every megaparsec (3.26 million light-years) of distance, a rate known as what?
What is the Hubble Constant
NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) is an underwater analog space mission where astronauts, engineers, and scientists live in an undersea habitat to simulate space exploration. Where does NEEMO take place?
The operations take place at Aquarius Reef Base, the world's only operational undersea research laboratory
This institution located in Peru, inspired by Matt Damon's ability to grow a potato on Mars in the film, "The Martian" experimented to see if a potato would be able to grow in soil similar to Mar's, and was successful.
What is the International Potato Center