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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 landing sequence of the spacecraft.
(b) The formula for the rocket fuel.
(c) The design of the spacecraft.
(d) The trajectory of the orbital flight.

2. How many students were killed in the bus crash at Moton High School?
(a) Five.
(b) One.
(c) Three.
(d) Ten.

3. Why was it difficult for Mary Jackson to attend engineering classes at Hampton High School?
(a) Her supervisor had to give her permission to attend an engineering class.
(b) The classes were not open to women.
(c) The school was segregated.
(d) She had to walk there.

4. Where was Central High School, the white school that was in the news because black students were trying to integrate it?
(a) Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
(b) Austin, Texas.
(c) Miami, Florida.
(d) Little Rock, Arkansas.

5. Besides fearing an attack, what bothered Americans about Russia launching Sputnik?
(a) Americans believed Russia had stolen plans for its satellite from America.
(b) Americans were only weeks away from launching a manned spacecraft.
(c) Americans were humiliated that Russia had beat them to space.
(d) Americans believed Russia was using the satellite to monitor their communications.

6. What did Katherine's analysis of an accident involving a small plane lead to?
(a) Changes in air traffic regulations to avoid wake turbulence accidents.
(b) A change in the design of small airplanes.
(c) A change in pilot procedures for landing an airplane.
(d) Changes to the wing structure of airplanes.

7. Where did Jimmy Goble work when he and Katherine moved to Newsome Park?
(a) Langley Research Center.
(b) The shipyard.
(c) At a high school.
(d) At a restaurant.

8. What country were Americans concerned about their students being able to compete with?
(a) England.
(b) Germany.
(c) Russia.
(d) China.

9. How did President Eisenhower want America's first spaceflight to be perceived?
(a) As a show of America's superior technology.
(b) As a secretive mission.
(c) As an act of military strength.
(d) As a peaceful mission.

10. Who coauthored Mary Jackson's first report?
(a) Katherine Goble Johnson.
(b) Dorothy Vaughan.
(c) R.T. Jones.
(d) Kaz Czarnecki.

11. Which group at Langley had already developed expertise in rockets when the space race began?
(a) The Formal Methods Research Group.
(b) The Materials Research Division.
(c) The Flight Research Division.
(d) PARD.

12. How old was Christine Mann Darden when she started the second grade?
(a) Five.
(b) Seven.
(c) Ten.
(d) Eight.

13. What was Katherine Goble Johnson's relationship with her white male coworkers like?
(a) They treated her as though she were beneath them.
(b) She was comfortable with them.
(c) They overworked her.
(d) She was never able to be herself around them.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the name of Mary Jackson's son who entered into the soap box derby race?

2. What was the purpose of the document titled "Introduction to Outer Space" that was prepared by President Eisenhower's Advisory Committee on Science?

3. Why did Dorothy Vaughan believe the West Computers would need to learn to use the electronic computers?

4. What made white computers laugh at Mary Jackson?

5. Whose work was sabotaged by a mechanic?

(see the answer keys)

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