 - 1. How much was the NASA contract awarded to SpaceX in April 2011 for the CCDev program?
A) $75 million B) $200 million C) $100 million D) $1 billion
- 2. In early 2012, what was the estimated valuation of SpaceX?
A) $875 million B) $2.4 billion C) $12 billion D) $1.3 billion
- 3. Which spacecraft became the first commercial vehicle to deliver cargo to the ISS in May 2012?
A) CCtCap B) Starlink C) Falcon 9 D) Dragon
- 4. What was the valuation of SpaceX after the Dragon C2+ launch?
A) $1.3 billion B) $2.4 billion C) $1 billion D) $12 billion
- 5. How much private equity did SpaceX receive in its first decade?
A) $75 million B) $1 billion C) $200 million D) $100 million
- 6. When did SpaceX's active reusability test program begin?
A) Early 2012 B) 2014 C) Late 2012 D) 2013
- 7. When did high-velocity, high-altitude tests of booster return technology begin?
A) 2011 B) 2014 C) Late 2012 D) Late 2013
- 8. How many commercial mission contracts did SpaceX win out of the 20 openly competed in 2014?
A) Twenty B) Nine C) Six D) Four
- 9. Which company requested government subsidies to compete with SpaceX in 2014?
A) Arianespace B) Google C) United Launch Alliance D) Fidelity Investments
- 10. Before SpaceX, how much did launch costs for the U.S. military reach under the ULA monopoly?
A) Over $75 million B) Over $400 million C) Over $1 billion D) Over $200 million
- 11. What was the name of the contract awarded to SpaceX in September 2014 to finalize the Crew Transportation System?
A) Starlink B) CCDev C) CCtCap D) SAA
- 12. In January 2015, how much funding did SpaceX raise from Google and Fidelity?
A) $2.4 billion B) $1 billion C) $200 million D) $875 million
- 13. What percentage of the company did Google and Fidelity own after their 2015 investment?
A) 10% B) 50% C) Two-thirds D) 8.33%
- 14. What was the estimated valuation of SpaceX in January 2015?
A) $2.4 billion B) $12 billion C) $1.3 billion D) $1 billion
- 15. What is the name of the SpaceX satellite constellation announced in 2015?
A) Falcon 9 B) CCtCap C) Starlink D) Dragon
- 16. How many satellites was Starlink initially planned to include?
A) 1,000 B) 8,000 C) 4,000 D) 2,000
- 17. What caused the Falcon 9 CRS-7 mission to explode in 2015?
A) A failed steel strut B) External damage C) A fuel leak D) A software error
- 18. How much of SpaceX stock was owned by Musk in early 2012?
A) Half B) Approximately two-thirds C) All of it D) Ten percent
- 19. What mission experienced a failure in June 2015?
A) CCtCap B) Dragon C2+ C) CCDev D) CRS-7
- 20. How much total funding had SpaceX operated on during its first decade?
A) Approximately $1 billion B) $1.3 billion C) $12 billion D) $200 million
- 21. The Falcon rocket series was named after a spacecraft from which franchise?
A) 2001: A Space Odyssey B) Star Wars C) Battlestar Galactica D) Star Trek
- 22. In 2004, SpaceX protested a NASA contract awarded to which company?
A) Boeing B) Tesla Motors C) Kistler Aerospace D) SolarCity
- 23. What program did NASA form after withdrawing the Kistler Aerospace contract?
A) Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) B) DARPA Falcon Project C) Prompt Global Strike D) Commercial Resupply Services (CRS)
- 24. Which vehicle did SpaceX originally intend to develop after the Falcon 1?
A) Dragon B) Falcon 5 C) Falcon 9 D) Falcon Heavy
- 25. Which organization purchased the first two Falcon 1 launches?
A) United States Department of Defense B) SpaceX C) Tesla Motors D) NASA
- 26. What was the purpose of the DARPA Falcon Project?
A) Satellite deployment B) Deep space exploration C) Hypersonic missile delivery evaluation D) Human-rated space travel
- 27. On which attempt did the Falcon 1 achieve its first successful launch?
A) Second B) Fifth C) Fourth D) Third
- 28. What contract award in December 2008 financially saved SpaceX?
A) Kistler Aerospace contract B) Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) C) Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) D) DARPA Falcon Project
- 29. After which launch was the Falcon 1 retired?
A) First B) Fifth C) Fourth D) Third
- 30. Who was promoted to company president for her role in negotiating the CRS contract?
A) Kistler Aerospace B) Gwynne Shotwell C) Elon Musk D) Bill Gerstenmaier
- 31. When did the first operational Dragon spacecraft launch?
A) July 2009 B) December 2010 C) June 2010 D) September 2008
- 32. Who did SpaceX negotiate the CRS contract with at NASA?
A) Gwynne Shotwell B) Elon Musk C) Bill Gerstenmaier D) The GAO
- 33. What type of launch vehicle was the Falcon 9 intended to be?
A) Expendable small-lift B) Expendable medium-lift C) Reusable medium-lift D) Reusable heavy-lift
- 34. What was the name of the project Musk announced at the Mars Society convention in 2001?
A) Mars Oasis B) Red Planet Greenhouse C) Project Falcon D) SpaceX One
- 35. What was the goal of the Mars Oasis project?
A) Launch a satellite to orbit Mars B) Create a fuel production station C) Build a human colony D) Land a greenhouse and grow plants on Mars
- 36. Which rocket did Musk initially try to acquire from Russia?
A) Proton B) Dnepr C) Soyuz D) Falcon 1
- 37. Who provided the Russian contacts that helped Musk attempt to acquire a launch vehicle?
A) John Garvey B) Tom Mueller C) Jim Cantrell D) Michael D. Griffin
- 38. Who was the 11th Administrator of NASA that accompanied Musk to Moscow?
A) Robert Zubrin B) Michael D. Griffin C) John Garvey D) Chris Thompson
- 39. Which of these is NOT one of the strategies Musk believed would cut launch costs?
A) Vertical integration B) Using inexpensive off-the-shelf components C) Adopting a modular software engineering approach D) Exclusive government funding
- 40. In what year did Elon Musk start looking for staff for SpaceX?
A) 2002 B) 2001 C) 2003 D) 2000
- 41. Which two individuals later founded the company Vector Launch?
A) Elon Musk and Gwynne Shotwell B) Robert Zubrin and Michael D. Griffin C) Jim Cantrell and John Garvey D) Tom Mueller and Chris Thompson
- 42. Where was the first SpaceX headquarters located?
A) Los Angeles, California B) El Segundo, California C) Cape Canaveral, Florida D) Austin, Texas
- 43. What was Tom Mueller's role at SpaceX?
A) Chief Engineer B) CTO C) VP of Operations D) COO
- 44. Which companies were early SpaceX employees like Tom Mueller and Gwynne Shotwell previously employed at?
A) NASA and Lockheed Martin B) TRW and Boeing C) SpaceX and Blue Origin D) General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman
- 45. Who personally interviewed and approved all early SpaceX employees?
A) Tom Mueller B) Gwynne Shotwell C) Michael D. Griffin D) Elon Musk
- 46. Where is SpaceX headquartered?
A) Starbase, Texas B) Cape Canaveral, Florida C) Brownsville, Texas D) Hawthorne, California
- 47. What percentage of voting power does Elon Musk control at SpaceX?
A) 39% B) 84% C) 51% D) 100%
- 48. Which company segment operates the Starlink constellation?
A) Infrastructure B) Space C) Connectivity D) Artificial Intelligence
- 49. What is the name of the subsidiary that develops the Grok family of LLMs?
A) OpenAI B) SpaceX Super Intelligence C) Neuralink D) Starlink AI
- 50. When did SpaceX successfully launch the Falcon 1 into orbit?
A) 2006 B) 2010 C) 2002 D) 2008
- 51. Which vehicle does SpaceX plan to adapt as a human lander for NASA's Artemis program?
A) Falcon Heavy B) Falcon 1 C) Dragon 2 D) Starship
- 52. In what year did SpaceX complete the first reflight of an orbital-class booster?
A) 2015 B) 2012 C) 2018 D) 2017
- 53. What joint venture was announced in 2026 with Tesla, Inc.?
A) Grok B) Starshield C) Terafab D) Colossus
- 54. What is the name of the military counterpart to Starlink?
A) Starbase B) Starshield C) Colossus D) Dragon 2
- 55. In what year did SpaceX achieve the first successful landing and recovery of a first stage?
A) 2016 B) 2014 C) 2015 D) 2017
- 56. What discount percentage did SpaceX offer customers for flying on a reused Falcon 9 first stage in 2016?
A) 10% B) 5% C) 20% D) 15%
- 57. What caused the Falcon 9 explosion in September 2016?
A) Engine overheating B) Fuel leak C) Solidified liquid oxygen D) Structural fatigue
- 58. What was the name of the first satellite launched on a reused Falcon 9 rocket?
A) Falcon 9 Flight 20 B) SpaceX-1 C) SES-10 D) AMOS-6
- 59. When was The Boring Company test tunnel completed?
A) July 2017 B) December 2018 C) May 2018 D) March 2018
- 60. What percentage of The Boring Company's equity went to SpaceX?
A) 6% B) 10% C) 50% D) 90%
- 61. What global market share for awarded commercial launch contracts did SpaceX achieve in 2017?
A) 30% B) 10% C) 45% D) 60%
- 62. Where did the September 2016 rocket explosion occur?
A) During a pre-launch static fire test B) During orbit injection C) During atmospheric reentry D) During the recovery landing
- 63. In May 2019, how many Starlink satellites were launched in the first large batch?
A) 100 B) 30 C) 120 D) 60
- 64. What was the result of Starship's first orbital flight test on April 20, 2023?
A) Launch was scrubbed before liftoff B) Reached orbit successfully C) Mid-air explosion D) Successful landing
- 65. In 2022, what was the total number of SpaceX launches?
A) 50 B) 45 C) 61 D) 72
- 66. Which mission featured the first-ever private spacewalk?
A) Crew Dragon Demo-2 B) Polaris Dawn C) Artemis 1 D) Starship 14
- 67. What does 'max q' refer to during rocket ascent?
A) Maximum aerodynamic pressure B) Maximum velocity achieved C) Maximum engine temperature D) Maximum fuel consumption rate
- 68. Which company is a partner with SpaceX and xAI for the Terafab project?
A) Nvidia B) Anthropic C) Google D) Tesla
- 69. Where is the Colossus 1 data center located?
A) Boca Chica, Texas B) Hawthorne, California C) Austin, Texas D) Memphis, Tennessee
- 70. What is the name of SpaceX's orbit-to-Earth delivery capsule?
A) Starmind B) Colossus 1 C) Starfall D) Terafab
- 71. What is the ticker symbol for SpaceX on the Nasdaq?
A) TSLA B) SPCX C) SFAL D) XAI
- 72. What was the share price of SpaceX at its IPO?
A) $135 B) $250 C) $60 D) $920
- 73. What is the name of the solar-powered space-based data center project?
A) Terafab B) Colossus 1 C) Starmind D) Starfall
- 74. What system will provide the internal compute for the Starmind AI1 satellite?
A) Cursor AI modules B) Google Tensor processing units C) Nvidia Vera Rubin (NVL72) D) Terafab logic chips
- 75. What is the peak compute payload capacity of the Starmind AI1 satellite?
A) 175 kW B) 1 terawatt C) 250 kW D) 920 MW
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