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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What part of the Mercury Project did Katherine Goble Johnson request to work on?
(a) The formula for the rocket fuel.
(b) The trajectory of the orbital flight.
(c) The design of the spacecraft.
(d) The landing sequence of the spacecraft.

2. Why did Langley employees hold meetings and social gatherings in their own Activities Building in the 1950s?
(a) Because it was the nicest building in the area.
(b) Because they did not want people outside the laboratory to hear what they talked about.
(c) Because it was the only building in the area large enough to accommodate them.
(d) So they could avoid trying to find a public building that would allow a racially mixed group.

3. In what Langley building did much of the research surrounding spaceflight take place?
(a) The Space Research Building.
(b) Building 51.
(c) Building 1244.
(d) The Activities Building.

4. What was special about Mary Jackson's son winning the soap box derby?
(a) It was the last soap box derby ever held.
(b) He was awarded a scholarship to attend college.
(c) Mary was the first mother to help her son in the derby.
(d) He was the first black boy to win the peninsula's competition.

5. How had Katherine Goble Johnson's father taught her to treat other people?
(a) As inferior to herself.
(b) As superiors to herself.
(c) As strangers to be wary of.
(d) As equals.

6. What was the purpose of the document titled "Introduction to Outer Space" that was prepared by President Eisenhower's Advisory Committee on Science?
(a) The document explained spaceflight in layman's terms to make the case that a space program was in America's best interests.
(b) The document was used as a recruiting tool for NASA.
(c) The document was used as a teaching tool for new engineers.
(d) The document was used in high schools to teach space science.

7. Where was Katherine Goble Johnson when she found out about the jobs available at Langley for black women?
(a) At the laundromat.
(b) At church.
(c) In a bus station.
(d) At a wedding.

8. What instruction did Katherine Goble Johnson give her daughters' principal after her husband died?
(a) To go easy on her grieving daughters.
(b) Not to give her daughters any special treatment.
(c) To avoid talking about her husband's death.
(d) To allow Dorothy Vaughan to pick the children up from school.

9. What part of the Mercury Project was the team that Dorothy Lee worked on responsible for?
(a) The orbital path.
(b) The design of the spacecraft.
(c) The rockets.
(d) The trajectory of the flight.

10. Why did Dorothy Hoover leave NACA?
(a) To get married.
(b) Because she could not advance to an engineering position at NACA.
(c) To pursue a master's degree in mathematics.
(d) For a better job in another laboratory.

11. What was the name of America's first manned space project?
(a) Apollo.
(b) Project Scout.
(c) Challenger.
(d) Project Mercury.

12. What was Christine Mann Darden's job when she was in high school?
(a) She worked as maid in a hotel.
(b) She worked in an antiques store at a hotel.
(c) She worked in a library.
(d) She worked in a laundromat.

13. Who was the first human in space?
(a) Yuri Gagarin.
(b) Neil Armstrong.
(c) John Glenn.
(d) Alan Shepard.

14. How did Dorothy Lee feel after agreeing with a report that women had to act like ladies in the workplace?
(a) Embarrassed.
(b) Angry.
(c) Happy.
(d) Confused.

15. What branch of the military did Katherine Goble Johnson's second husband serve in?
(a) Marines.
(b) Navy.
(c) Airforce.
(d) Army.

Short Answer Questions

1. What made white computers laugh at Mary Jackson?

2. How did Dorothy Vaughan reinvent her career after the Analysis and Computation Division was created?

3. Who was branch chief that offered James Williams a place on his team?

4. What did school boards in the community around Langley do to keep black students from attending white schools after schools were integrated?

5. What was Katherine Goble Johnson's relationship with her white male coworkers like?

(see the answer keys)

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