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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Epilogue.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Muroc Army Air Base is renamed in 1948. What is its new name?
(a) Kennedy Army Air Base.
(b) Edwards Air Force Base.
(c) Cape Canaveral.
(d) George Air Force Base.

3. Why does Janet Conrad support her husband's decision to join the astronaut program?
(a) She thinks it will vault his career to the top.
(b) She thinks it will be safer than flying high-performance jet fighters.
(c) She wants to move out of the desert.
(d) She wants her husband to be a famous astronaut.

4. When Cooper is in the capsule awaiting launch, all of his objective readings indicate that Cooper has done something no previous astronaut has done. What does Cooper do?
(a) Hyperventilates.
(b) Cries.
(c) Falls asleep.
(d) Passes out.

5. Why does Deke Slayton officially retire from the Air Force one year short of being eligible for his 20-year pension
(a) The Air Force wants Slayton to train Yeager.
(b) Slayton wants to move to Alabama with his wife.
(c) The Air Force decides to ground Slayton permanently.
(d) The Air Force no longer wants Slayton to work with NASA.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many days before the planned Mercury launch do the Russians put a man into space?

2. What is Gus Grissom awarded for his actions during combat in Korea?

3. Shepard is strapped so tightly into the capsule that he can't feel the weightlessness he knows he is experiencing. What item floats in front of him in the capsule?

4. As he sits in the capsule waiting to be launched into space, what is Shepard most afraid of?

5. Who originally pilots the X-1 aircraft?

(see the answer key)

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