Test your knowledge of the Apollo program on historic anniversary

The Apollo 11 liftoff on July 16, 1969.

Tomorrow (July 20, 2022) will be the 53^rd anniversary of Apollo 11, the first manned moon landing. In conjunction with the 50^th anniversary of that historic event three years ago, I wrote a column for The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA that outlined why that moment should always be celebrated as one of the crowning achievements of mankind.
I posted that column on this blog on April 29, 2021 as a tribute to one of the three astronauts who were part of the Apollo 11 crew, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, who had died at that time. His death left the second moon walker after Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, the only surviving member of the Apollo 11 crew.

The link to that column on the newspaper’s website is: https://www.thesunchronicle.com/features/stories/moon-matters-why-the-lunar-landing-of-50-years-ago-was-important-then-and-remains/article_10d99193-5277-5f4c-9b5f-c91daa89d1a4.html

As a companion to that column, I offered this Apollo 11 quiz, which I’m posting today to mark the Apollo 11 anniversary. Enjoy --- and never forget the significance of what Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins accomplished 53 years ago this week. (NOTE: The answers follow the questions on this same post.)
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Here’s a quiz to test your knowledge of the Apollo missions – 11 questions in honor of the 50^th anniversary of Apollo 11.
1. Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. Who among the Apollo 17 crew was the last man on the moon?
A. Gene Cernan
B. Jack Schmitt
C. Ron Evans
2. Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin were the first two men out of how many on to walk on the moon?
A. 10
B. 12
C. 14
3. How many Apollo missions went to the moon, but did not land?
A. 3
B. 2
C. 4
4. There were two missions, Apollos 9 and 10, which tested the lunar landing module (LEM) before a landing could be attempted. Which statement is true about those flights?
A. Both orbited the moon, but didn’t land.
B. Both were Earth-orbital missions.
C. Apollo 9 orbited the Earth; Apollo 10 orbited the moon.
5 . How close did Apollo 10 get to the moon’s surface before returning to the command module?
A. 9 miles
B. 12 Miles
C. 3 miles
6. Apollo 13 needed a daring rescue plan from Mission Control, led by legendary Flight Director Gene Kranz, to get the stranded astronauts home safely. True or false: Kranz told flight controllers that “Failure is not an option.”
7. Who played Kranz in “Apollo 13?”
A. Kevin Costner
B. Ed Harris
C. Robert DiNiro
8. In the same movie, who played astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise?
9. While most of the Apollo crews were tight-knit – Apollo 15’s crew of Dave Scott, Jim Irwin and Al Worden famously owned matching red-white-and-blue Corvettes – the Apollo 11 crew wasn’t close. How did Command Module Pilot Michael Collins describe the relationship among him, Armstrong and Aldrin?
A. “Amiable strangers”
B. “Distant friends”
C. “The moon trippers”
10. The Apollo 11 lunar module was, of course, named Eagle. What was the name of the command module?
A. Discovery
B. Columbia
C. Enterprise
11. Who was the only astronaut to hit a golf ball on the moon, and on what mission?
A. John Young, Apollo 16.
B. Alan Bean, Apollo 12
C. Alan Shepard Jr., Apollo 14
Answers
1. A
2. B
3. A (Apollos 8, 10 and 13)
4. C
5. A
6. False. Kranz never said those words, but expressed that sentiment in talking to the script writers who interviewed him for the 1995 movie about the mission, “Apollo 13.” Kranz did use those words for the title of his 2000 autobiography.
7. B
8. Tom Hanks (Lovell), Kevin Bacon (Swigert) and Bill Paxton (Haise).
9. A
10. B
11. C