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50 free Yuri Gagarin trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Yuri Gagarin trivia quiz follows the first human in space from a village near Gzhatsk, through 21 months living in a mud hut under German occupation, to a foundry apprenticeship, a Saratov flying club and a MiG-15 squadron above the Arctic Circle. Then comes the part everyone knows: 12 April 1961, Vostok 1, one orbit, 108 minutes, and a farewell word that became a catchphrase across the Eastern Bloc. The easy questions cover the date, the spacecraft and the country. The medium ones ask about his call sign, why he was chosen over Gherman Titov, how he actually got back to the ground, and the countries he toured afterwards. The hard ones dig into the FAI records dispute, the Soyuz 1 tragedy that grounded him, the competing theories about his fatal crash, and the ways he is remembered on the Moon, in London and in the KHL. It suits a space-history class, a pub quiz round or anyone who wants to test their knowledge of the Space Race beyond Apollo. Every answer has been checked against a reference encyclopaedia, and each question shows its explanation and citation once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On what date did Yuri Gagarin become the first person to travel into space?
12 April 1961
The date is now marked as Cosmonautics Day in Russia and the International Day of Human Space Flight worldwide.
Q 02What was the name of the spacecraft that carried Gagarin into orbit?
Vostok 1
Vostok means 'East' in Russian, and the programme's later flights carried the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova.
Q 03How long did Gagarin's spaceflight last?
108 minutes
Long enough for a single orbit of Earth before the capsule came down in Kazakhstan.
Q 04How many orbits of Earth did Gagarin complete on his flight?
One
His backup pilot flew 17 orbits on Vostok 2 four months later.
Q 05From which launch site was Gagarin's spacecraft launched?
Baikonur Cosmodrome
The pad Gagarin left from, which had also launched Sputnik 1, is now known as Gagarin's Start.
Q 06What was Gagarin's radio call sign during his flight?
Kedr
Kedr means Siberian pine or cedar; later cosmonauts also took bird and tree call signs.
Q 07Which Russian word, said by Gagarin at lift-off, came to stand for the start of the Space Age?
Poyekhali!
It translates roughly as 'Off we go!' and is still quoted in Russia every 12 April.
Q 08How did Gagarin actually return to the ground at the end of his flight?
He ejected and landed by parachute
Soviet officials hid this for months because record rules at the time required the pilot to land with the craft.
Q 09Which body's landing rules caused a dispute over recognising Gagarin's records?
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
The FAI eventually certified the records anyway and rewrote its rules.
Q 10Whose flight four months later made it apparent that Gagarin had not landed inside his spacecraft?
Gherman Titov
Titov's Vostok 2 mission in August 1961 made him the second person to orbit Earth.
Q 11To what military rank was Gagarin promoted in a special order issued during his flight?
Major
He had lifted off as a senior lieutenant, so he skipped a rank while in orbit.
Q 12In which village was Gagarin born?
Klushino
The nearby town of Gzhatsk was renamed Gagarin after his death in 1968.
Q 13What did Gagarin's father do for a living on the collective farm?
Carpenter
His mother worked as a dairy farmer on the same sovkhoz.
Q 14Where did the Gagarin family live for 21 months after a Nazi officer took over their home?
Q 21Which Soviet Moon probe's 1959 launch sparked Gagarin's interest in space exploration?
Luna 3
Luna 3 sent back the first photographs of the far side of the Moon.
Q 22What was the accelerated training group of first-flight candidates that included Gagarin nicknamed?
The Vanguard Six
Also called the Sochi Six; two of its original members were injured and had to be replaced.
Q 23When cosmonaut candidates voted anonymously on who should fly first, how many did NOT pick Gagarin?
Three
His peers found him focused and demanding, and the official commission later ranked him best too.
A mud hut in the garden
The hut measured roughly 3 by 3 metres, and young Yuri spent the occupation sabotaging German tank batteries.
Q 15What did the young Gagarin pour into German tank batteries as an act of sabotage?
Soil
He also mixed up the chemicals meant for recharging the batteries, after a soldier tried to hang his little brother from an apple tree.
Q 16What trade did Gagarin train in as a 16-year-old apprentice at a steel plant near Moscow?
Foundryman
He graduated with honours in mouldmaking, and the British Union of Foundry Workers later gave him a medal.
Q 17What machinery did Gagarin study at the Industrial Technical School in Saratov?
Tractors
While in Saratov he joined a weekend flying club and earned money as a dock labourer on the Volga.
Q 18What did Gagarin's flight instructor give him to fix his trouble landing the trainer aircraft?
A cushion to sit on
He was short enough that he simply could not see well over the cockpit rim.
Q 19How tall was Gagarin?
1.57 m
The chief designer wanted candidates under 1.70 m and 72 kg to fit the cramped Vostok capsule.
Q 20Gagarin's first Air Force posting was to Luostari Air Base, close to the border of which country?
Norway
He flew MiG-15bis fighters there for the Northern Fleet in Murmansk Oblast.
Q 24Which Soviet chief engineer set the height and weight limits for the first cosmonauts?
Sergei Korolev
Korolev's identity was a state secret during his lifetime; he was known publicly only as the Chief Designer.
Q 25Which highest national title was Gagarin awarded by Nikita Khrushchev at the Kremlin after his flight?
Hero of the Soviet Union
He also received the Order of Lenin and became the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR the same day.
Q 26Which US president barred Gagarin from visiting the United States?
John F. Kennedy
Gagarin toured about 30 other countries, from Brazil and Cuba to Iceland and Egypt.
Q 27In which rainy British city did Gagarin refuse an umbrella and stand up in an open convertible?
Manchester
He visited Britain in July 1961, taking in London and Manchester.
Q 28Gagarin met his future wife Valentina at May Day celebrations in which famous location?
Red Square, Moscow
They married on 7 November 1957, the same day he graduated from flight school.
Q 29Gagarin's elder daughter Yelena became director general of which institution in 2001?
Moscow Kremlin Museums
His younger daughter Galina became a professor of economics.
Q 30In which sport did the young Gagarin play as a goalkeeper?
Ice hockey
He also coached and refereed basketball at his technical school in Saratov.