Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Quiz
Quiz: How much do you know about the modern space race?
The Good Information Project spent this month looking at space – so what did you learn?
OVER 60 YEARS after the first space race began between Cold War rivals the United States and the then-Soviet Union, a new era of the race has started.
While space agencies like NASA and the ESA continue to work on pioneering the future in space exploration, a trio of billionaires have now entered the picture, with seemingly unlimited budgets.
Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson and Elon Musk are all competing to be the first man to conquer the industry of space travel, with plans to make it cheap, frequent and more accessible to the public.
But how much attention have you been paying to the modern space race? Test your knowledge below.
We'll start with the original space race - who was the first man in space?
Alamy
Neil Armstrong
Alan Shepard
Yuri Gagarin
Buzz Aldrin
What is the name of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space company?
Alamy
Blue Origin
Amazon Orbit
OneSpace
Bezos I
Richard Branson recently flew to space on Virgin Galactic’s first fully crewed flight, but how long did he actually spend in space?
Shutterstock
8 minutes
2 hours
3 days
He's still there
Virgin Galactic has started selling seats on its suborbital spaceliner with the aim of bringing tourists on trips into space. How much will one ticket set you back?
Alamy
€150,000
€380,000
€625,000
€1,000,000
Back in April, Elon Musk's SpaceX carried a crew of NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. What is the name of the craft that brought them there?
Alamy
New Shepard
X Æ A-Xii
Falcon 1
Dragon 2
The Karman line is the common definition given to the boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space, or the "edge of space". How high is it above sea level?
Alamy
100km
1000km
10,000km
100,000km
Elon Musk has said he wants to colonise Mars, but what reason did he give for doing it?
Alamy
For the craic
Because he can
He believes it's important to get a self-sustaining base there in the event of a third world war
He wants to meet some aliens
Ireland's first satellite, EIRSAT-1, will be launching next year. But how many operational satellites are thought to be currently orbiting the Earth?
Alamy
2,467
4,084
6,835
8,214
China are planning a mission to collect samples from a near-Earth asteroid, and later a comet. What country has joined the ambitious mission?
Alamy
United States
Japan
India
Russia
What is the name of the rover that NASA sent to explore Mars last year?
Alamy
Endurance
Deliverance
Perseverance
Wall-E
NASA recently chose SpaceX to build a lunar lander that will take their astronauts to the moon’s surface. In what year are they planning to do this?
Alamy
2022
2024
2026
2028
This year, the European Space Agency received 23,000 applications from people hoping to become astronauts. How many candidates were Irish?
Alamy
270
545
910
None of them
You scored out of !
Top Dog!
Nice work, you got them all right!
You scored out of !
Clever Cat!
Good job!
You scored out of !
Fintastic!
Not too bad!
You scored out of !
What are ewe doing?!
There's definitely room for improvement.
You scored out of !
Turtley Awful!
Better luck next time!
have your say