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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What plane is being developed for the ARPS?
(a) B-1.
(b) X-15C.
(c) NF-104.
(d) X-20.

2. Why is Deke Slayton grounded?
(a) Attitude problems.
(b) Poor hearing.
(c) Failing eyesight.
(d) A minor heart defect.

3. Why does the unmanned flight receive very little public attention?
(a) The public doesn't believe NASA can pull it off.
(b) The public is tired of test flights.
(c) The Beatles are making their first US tour.
(d) The Russians beat the Americans to the punch again.

4. Why do the astronauts move to Houston?
(a) Cape Canaveral is no longer big enough for their program.
(b) Houston provides better launch windows.
(c) NASA is building a Manned Spacecraft Center.
(d) Houston has better weather.

5. As she waits for her husband to be launched into space, what is Louise Shepard doing?
(a) Giving an interview to the reporters from Life magazine.
(b) Hiding in her back bedroom in tears.
(c) Watching television like everyone else.
(d) Being a proper hostess for the people gathered in her house to watch the launch.

Short Answer Questions

1. When the capsule splashes down and Shepard is detaching all of the hoses so that he can leave the capsule, what sound does he hear?

2. The first "manned" space flight by Russia does not have a man aboard. What living thing do the Russians send into space?

3. What is given to Shepard by President Kennedy?

4. What is President Kennedy obsessed with?

5. As soon as Shepard is debriefed, where is he flown to?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the next group of astronauts selected contain fourteen trainees instead of the intended eleven trainees?

2. Why is there a certain danger in scrapping the Redstone rocket in favor of the Atlas rockets?

3. What irks the Original Seven wives about the Next Nine wives?

4. In Chapter 15, what does John Glenn argue with James Webb about?

5. What worries the astronauts the most about Project Mercury potentially losing funding?

6. The Air Force has grand plans of their own for a space program. What do their plans include?

7. What becomes an immutable part of the flight day drill for the astronaut's wife?

8. The wives had barely started getting settled into their new homes in Houston when something extraordinary starts happening. What is it?

9. Why are the American politicians and reporters alarmed by the Russian's flight?

10. During an international space conference attended by the Russians to publicize their successes in space, what reassuring fact does the United States learn?

(see the answer keys)

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