Space Quiz – Printable Version
20 multiple-choice questions with an explained answer key, ready to print.
Print the sheet (or save it as a PDF from the print window), hand it out, then mark it together using the answer page: every answer is explained. Perfect for a party, a birthday, a classroom, a care home or a team activity.
Name: ………………………………Score: ……… / 20
- Which is the largest planet in the solar system?
- A. Jupiter
- B. Saturn
- C. Neptune
- D. Uranus
- Who was the first human sent into space?
- A. Alan Shepard
- B. John Glenn
- C. Yuri Gagarin
- D. Neil Armstrong
- How many planets are there in our solar system?
- A. 9
- B. 8
- C. 10
- D. 7
- In what year was the Hubble Space Telescope launched?
- A. 1985
- B. 1990
- C. 2000
- D. 1995
- What shape is our galaxy, the Milky Way?
- A. A ring
- B. A cube
- C. A spiral
- D. A perfect sphere
- In what year was the Voyager 1 probe launched?
- A. 1977
- B. 1990
- C. 1969
- D. 1985
- On which planet is the Great Red Spot, a giant storm, found?
- A. Neptune
- B. Saturn
- C. Jupiter
- D. Venus
- What does the acronym ESA stand for?
- A. African Space Agency
- B. European Space Agency
- C. American Scientific Agency
- D. Asian Space Association
- Where is the Kuiper Belt located?
- A. Between Earth and Venus
- B. Very close around the Sun
- C. Between Mars and Jupiter
- D. Beyond Neptune's orbit
- Which NASA rover has been exploring the surface of Mars since 2021?
- A. Curiosity
- B. Spirit
- C. Perseverance
- D. Opportunity
- Which planet rotates almost backwards?
- A. Saturn
- B. Jupiter
- C. Mars
- D. Venus
- Which is the planet farthest from the Sun?
- A. Saturn
- B. Uranus
- C. Neptune
- D. Jupiter
- Which moon of Jupiter is thought to hide, beneath its icy crust, an ocean of liquid water larger than all of Earth's?
- A. Ganymede
- B. Callisto
- C. Io
- D. Europa
- Where is the main asteroid belt of our solar system?
- A. Between Earth and Mars
- B. Beyond Neptune
- C. Between Mars and Jupiter
- D. Around the Sun, inside Mercury's orbit
- By how much can an astronaut 'grow' during a long stay on the International Space Station?
- A. 1 millimetre
- B. A few centimetres, up to about 5 cm
- C. 20 centimetres
- D. They shrink instead
- Which is the hottest planet in the solar system?
- A. Mercury
- B. Venus
- C. Mars
- D. Jupiter
- What is the Chinese space station, permanently crewed since 2022, called?
- A. Mir
- B. Tiangong
- C. Skylab
- D. Shenzhou
- Which German astronomer showed in the early 17th century that planets orbit the Sun in ellipses, not circles?
- A. Johannes Kepler
- B. Nicolaus Copernicus
- C. Tycho Brahe
- D. Isaac Newton
- Which planet holds the record for the most known moons, with more than 250 listed?
- A. Jupiter
- B. Uranus
- C. Neptune
- D. Saturn
- Where is Olympus Mons, the tallest known volcano in the Solar System?
- A. On Venus
- B. On the Moon
- C. On Mars
- D. On Io, a moon of Jupiter
Answer key — Space Quiz
- A. JupiterJupiter has a diameter of about 143,000 km, more than 11 times that of Earth.
- C. Yuri GagarinSoviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin completed the first crewed spaceflight on April 12, 1961.
- B. 8Since Pluto's reclassification as a dwarf planet in 2006, the solar system officially has 8 planets.
- B. 1990Hubble was placed into orbit on April 24, 1990, by the space shuttle Discovery.
- C. A spiralThe Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy made up of several arms wound around a central bulge.
- A. 1977Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is today the man-made object farthest from Earth.
- C. JupiterJupiter's Great Red Spot is an anticyclonic storm that has been active for at least 400 years.
- B. European Space AgencyESA (European Space Agency) brings together 22 member states and coordinates European space programs.
- D. Beyond Neptune's orbitThe Kuiper Belt is a region of the outer solar system containing icy bodies, including Pluto.
- C. PerseveranceThe Perseverance rover landed on Mars in February 2021 to search for signs of ancient life.
- D. VenusVenus has retrograde rotation.
- C. NeptuneNeptune is the farthest planet.
- D. EuropaIt is one of the most promising places in the solar system to look for life.
- C. Between Mars and JupiterUnlike in films, the asteroids there are very far apart: often hundreds of thousands of kilometres from each other.
- B. A few centimetres, up to about 5 cmWithout gravity, the discs between the vertebrae decompress and the spine lengthens.
- B. VenusAlthough further from the Sun than Mercury, Venus is smothered by a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere: an extreme greenhouse effect keeps it at around 460°C.
- B. TiangongIts name means "Heavenly Palace". Shenzhou is the name of the spacecraft that carry the "taikonauts" there.
- A. Johannes KeplerKepler relied on Tycho Brahe's very precise observations. His three laws were later explained by Newton's gravitation.
- D. SaturnSaturn pulled ahead of Jupiter thanks to the discovery of dozens of small moons in recent years.
- C. On MarsOlympus Mons rises about 22 km above the surrounding plains, nearly three times the height of Everest, and its base is about 600 km across.