Space GK Questions for Kids (with Answers)
Space questions make children look up at the night sky with new eyes. These 30 space GK questions cover the planets, the Sun, the Moon, stars and India’s own space missions, from Aryabhata to Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1.
30 questions · answers included · free to print and share
Easy space GK questions (ages 5–7)
1.How many planets are there in our solar system?
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
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Answer: Eight
Pluto was called a planet until 2006, when scientists renamed it a dwarf planet.
2.Which planet do we live on?
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Answer: Earth
Earth is the only planet known to have life.
3.What is the Sun?
- A planet
- A star
- A moon
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Answer: A star
The Sun is the star closest to Earth, which is why it looks so much bigger and brighter than other stars.
4.Which planet is known as the Red Planet?
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Answer: Mars
Mars looks red because its soil has a lot of iron oxide, which is rust.
5.Which is the biggest planet in our solar system?
- Saturn
- Jupiter
- Earth
- Neptune
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Answer: Jupiter
More than 1,000 Earths could fit inside Jupiter.
6.What is the name of Earth’s natural satellite?
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Answer: The Moon
The Moon does not make its own light; it shines by reflecting sunlight.
7.Which planet is famous for its bright, beautiful rings?
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Answer: Saturn
Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune have rings too, but theirs are much fainter.
8.Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?
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Answer: Neil Armstrong
His Apollo 11 mission landed on the Moon on 20 July 1969.
9.What do we call a person who travels into space?
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Answer: An astronaut
Space travellers from Russia are often called cosmonauts.
10.Which planet is closest to the Sun?
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Answer: Mercury
Mercury is also the smallest planet in our solar system.
Medium space GK questions (ages 8–10)
11.Which is the hottest planet in our solar system?
- Mercury
- Venus
- Mars
- Jupiter
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Answer: Venus
Venus is hotter than Mercury because its thick clouds trap the Sun’s heat.
12.What is the name of our galaxy?
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Answer: The Milky Way
Our Sun is just one of billions of stars in the Milky Way.
13.Who was the first human to travel into space?
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Answer: Yuri Gagarin
He orbited the Earth on 12 April 1961 in the spacecraft Vostok 1.
14.Who was the first Indian to travel into space?
- Rakesh Sharma
- Kalpana Chawla
- Vikram Sarabhai
- A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
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Answer: Rakesh Sharma
He flew in 1984 on a Soviet mission and, when asked how India looked from space, he said “Saare Jahan Se Achha”.
15.What does ISRO stand for?
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Answer: Indian Space Research Organisation
ISRO was set up in 1969, and its headquarters is in Bengaluru.
16.What was the name of India’s first satellite, launched in 1975?
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Answer: Aryabhata
It was named after Aryabhata, the great ancient Indian mathematician and astronomer.
17.On which date did Chandrayaan-3 land on the Moon?
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Answer: 23 August 2023
India became the first country to land near the Moon’s south pole, and 23 August is now celebrated as National Space Day.
18.What were the names of Chandrayaan-3’s lander and rover?
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Answer: Vikram and Pragyan
The lander Vikram is named after Dr Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space programme.
19.What is a “shooting star” really?
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Answer: A meteor
A meteor is a small piece of space rock burning up as it rushes through Earth’s air.
20.Which star is known as the North Star, or Dhruva Tara?
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Answer: Polaris
Polaris seems to stay almost still in the night sky, so travellers used it to find north.
21.How long does the Earth take to go once around the Sun?
- About 24 hours
- About 30 days
- About 365¼ days
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Answer: About 365¼ days
The extra quarter day adds up, so every four years we add 29 February in a leap year.
22.On the Moon, you would weigh about what fraction of your weight on Earth?
- About half
- About one-sixth
- About one-tenth
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Answer: About one-sixth
The Moon’s gravity is weaker than Earth’s because the Moon is much smaller.
Hard space GK questions (ages 11–13)
23.In which year did India’s Mars Orbiter Mission, Mangalyaan, reach Mars?
- 2008
- 2014
- 2019
- 2023
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Answer: 2014
India became the first Asian country to reach Mars orbit, and the first country in the world to do it on its first try.
24.What is the job of India’s Aditya-L1 mission?
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Answer: To study the Sun
Launched on 2 September 2023, it reached its viewing point, called L1, about 1.5 million km from Earth, in January 2024.
25.India’s first Moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, launched in 2008, helped find signs of what on the Moon?
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Answer: Water
An instrument on Chandrayaan-1 detected water molecules on the Moon’s surface.
26.About how long does sunlight take to reach the Earth?
- About 8 seconds
- About 8 minutes
- About 8 hours
- About 8 days
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Answer: About 8 minutes
Sunlight travels about 150 million km to reach us, at nearly 3 lakh km every second.
27.What is a light-year?
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Answer: The distance light travels in one year
Proxima Centauri, the nearest star after the Sun, is about 4.2 light-years away.
28.Between which two planets is the main asteroid belt?
- Earth and Mars
- Mars and Jupiter
- Saturn and Uranus
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Answer: Mars and Jupiter
Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, is a dwarf planet.
29.Which is the largest moon in our solar system?
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Answer: Ganymede
Ganymede goes around Jupiter and is even bigger than the planet Mercury.
30.Who was the first woman of Indian origin to go to space?
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Answer: Kalpana Chawla
She first flew into space in 1997 on the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Keep learning space
The questions go from easy (ages 5–7) to medium (ages 8–10) to hard (ages 11–13), and every answer has a short fun fact. Mission facts are given with their dates so they stay correct as new missions launch.
How to use these questions at home
- On a clear night, step outside with these questions and look for the Moon, a bright planet or the North Star.
- Make a paper model of the solar system and let your child place each planet as they answer the planet questions.
- Read about one ISRO mission each week and check its date in the answers; dates help children see space history as a story.