Space Agencies and Missions of the World: Exam Notes

The correct answer is C, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA is the civilian space agency of the United States, established in 1958 after the launch of Sputnik, with its headquarters at Washington DC. It grew out of an older body for aeronautical research, which is why aeronautics appears in the name before space. Its famous programmes include Apollo, which landed humans on the Moon, the Space Shuttle, the Hubble and James Webb telescopes, the Mars rovers and the Artemis programme.

Option A rearranges the words into Agency of Space Administration, which is not the official name. Option B replaces National with Navigational, a word that belongs to satellite navigation rather than to the agency. Option D is the closest trap because it ends with Agency instead of Administration; the last word of the name is Administration, and getting that single word right is what the question tests.

The correct answer is B, 1969. ISRO was formed on 15 August 1969, taking over the space work that had been carried on since 1962 by the Indian National Committee for Space Research. Vikram Sarabhai, who guided that committee, is called the father of the Indian space programme, and the organisation now works from Bengaluru under the Department of Space.

Option A, 1962, is the year the earlier committee was set up, so it is the commonest wrong answer. Option C, 1972, is the year the Space Commission and the Department of Space were created, bringing ISRO under the department. Option D, 1975, is the year India's first satellite Aryabhata was launched with Soviet help. Each of the three wrong options is a genuine landmark of the programme placed against the wrong question.

The correct answer is B, Soviet Union. Sputnik 1 was launched on 4 October 1957 and became the first artificial satellite to circle the earth, sending out a simple radio signal that stations across the world could hear. The launch opened the space age and pushed the United States to create NASA the next year. Sputnik 2, launched a month later, carried the dog Laika, the first animal to orbit the earth.

Option A, the United States, launched its first satellite Explorer 1 in early 1958, a few months later. Option C, the United Kingdom, built early satellites such as Ariel 1 but they were launched by American rockets. Option D, France, became the third country to launch a satellite with its own rocket, in 1965, and later led the European effort. The first place belongs to the Soviet Union.

The correct answer is B, Yuri Gagarin. The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin circled the earth once aboard Vostok 1 on 12 April 1961 and became the first human being in space, a flight that lasted about one hour and forty eight minutes. The day is observed every year as the International Day of Human Space Flight. Valentina Tereshkova of the same country became the first woman in space in 1963.

Option A, Neil Armstrong, was the first person to set foot on the Moon, in July 1969, which is a different first. Option C, Alan Shepard, was the first American in space, a few weeks after Gagarin, and later walked on the Moon with Apollo 14. Option D, Alexei Leonov, made the first walk in space outside a spacecraft in 1965. All four are genuine names, so the exact first must be remembered.

The correct answer is C, Aryabhata. India's first satellite was named after the ancient astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata and was launched on 19 April 1975 from a Soviet site, since India did not yet have a launch vehicle of its own. It carried instruments for experiments in astronomy and solar physics, and although its power system failed after a few days, it proved that India could build a satellite.

Option A, Rohini, was the first satellite placed in orbit by an Indian launch vehicle, the SLV-3, in July 1980, which is the next milestone and the usual trap. Option B, Bhaskara, was an early earth observation satellite launched in 1979. Option D, INSAT-1A, was the first of the Indian National Satellite System for communication, launched in 1982. The order Aryabhata, Bhaskara, Rohini, INSAT is worth remembering.

The correct answer is C, 2014. The Mars Orbiter Mission was launched on 5 November 2013 by a PSLV rocket and was placed in orbit around Mars on 24 September 2014. With it India became the first country to reach Mars at its very first attempt and the first Asian country to reach the planet at all, and the mission drew attention for its very low cost. It carried instruments to study the surface, the atmosphere and methane, and it orbited the planet without landing on it.

Option A, 2008, is the year of Chandrayaan-1. Option B, 2013, is the year of launch and not of orbit insertion, which is the distinction the question tests. Option D, 2019, is the year of Chandrayaan-2. Keeping launch dates and arrival dates separate is the safest way to answer questions from this chapter.

The correct answer is C, 2023. Chandrayaan-3 was launched on 14 July 2023 on an LVM3 rocket, and its lander Vikram touched down near the lunar south pole on 23 August 2023, releasing the rover Pragyan. India thus became the fourth country to make a soft landing on the Moon, after the Soviet Union, the United States and China, and the first to land in the south polar region, which interests scientists because water ice may survive in its shadowed craters. The day is now observed as National Space Day.

Option A, 2019, is the year of Chandrayaan-2, whose orbiter still works but whose lander was lost. Option B, 2021, saw no Indian lunar landing. Option D, 2024, is after the event. The pair to remember is Chandrayaan-2 in 2019 without a landing and Chandrayaan-3 in 2023 with one.

The correct answer is A, Paris. The European Space Agency was founded in 1975 by a group of European countries that decided to pool their space work, and its headquarters is in Paris. The agency has separate establishments spread across Europe for technology, astronaut training and mission control, and it works with NASA on projects such as the Hubble and James Webb telescopes and the International Space Station.

Option B, Brussels, is the seat of the European Union and of NATO, not of the space agency, which is a separate body with its own members. Option C, Kourou in French Guiana, is where the agency's Guiana Space Centre launches rockets, chosen for its nearness to the equator. Option D, Darmstadt in Germany, holds the European Space Operations Centre, which controls missions after launch. Only the headquarters is in Paris.

The correct answer is B, Japan. JAXA stands for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, formed in 2003 by merging three earlier Japanese space bodies, with its headquarters at Tokyo. It is known for the Hayabusa missions, which brought back samples from asteroids, for the Kibo laboratory module on the International Space Station and for the H series of launch vehicles.

Option A, South Korea, has its own body called KARI, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. Option C, China, works through the China National Space Administration, founded in 1993 and based at Beijing, which runs the Chang'e lunar missions and the Tiangong station. Option D, Israel, has the Israel Space Agency. Matching the short name to the country is exactly what such questions test, so learn ISRO, NASA, ESA, JAXA, CNSA and KARI together.

The correct answer is C, China. The Chinese mission Chang'e 4 landed on the far side of the Moon in January 2019, the first spacecraft ever to do so, and released the rover Yutu-2. A landing there is difficult because the far side never faces the earth, so a separate relay satellite was placed in position to carry signals. China later brought lunar samples back to the earth with Chang'e 5.

Option A, the United States, landed the Apollo crews on the near side. Option B, Russia, as the Soviet Union, made the first soft landing of any kind with Luna 9 in 1966, again on the near side. Option D, India, landed near the south pole with Chandrayaan-3 in 2023, which is a different achievement and the most likely confusion in this question. The far side belongs to China.

The correct answer is B, Voyager 1. Launched by NASA in 1977, Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter and Saturn, then continued outward and has since crossed into interstellar space, making it the farthest human-made object from the earth. It carries a golden record with sounds and images of our planet, and it took the picture of the earth known as the pale blue dot.

Option A, Pioneer 10, was an earlier probe to Jupiter and was once the most distant object but has been overtaken and no longer sends signals. Option C, New Horizons, flew past Pluto in 2015 and is far away but much closer than the Voyagers. Option D, Cassini, studied Saturn and its moons and was deliberately sent into the planet at the end of its mission in 2017. Voyager 2, the twin, is the only spacecraft to have visited all four giant planets.

The correct answer is B, Rakesh Sharma. An Indian Air Force pilot, Rakesh Sharma flew to the Soviet space station Salyut 7 aboard a Soyuz spacecraft in April 1984 as part of a joint mission and spent about a week in orbit, carrying out experiments in biology and remote sensing. He is remembered for answering the Prime Minister's question about how India looked from space with a line from a well known song.

Option A, Kalpana Chawla, was the first woman of Indian origin in space, flying with NASA, and she died in the Columbia accident of 2003. Option C, Ravish Malhotra, was the backup pilot for the 1984 mission and did not fly. Option D, Sunita Williams, is another astronaut of Indian origin with NASA who has spent long periods on the International Space Station. Only Rakesh Sharma flew as an Indian citizen first.