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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the Navy-calculated probability that a career Navy pilot will die in an aircraft accident?
(a) 23%
(b) 7%
(c) 56%
(d) 38%

2. What problem does the Army have with Yeager piloting the X-1?
(a) They can't keep his wife away from the base.
(b) They can't convince him the sound barrier is real.
(c) They can't stop him from drinking.
(d) They can't hold him back.

3. Where are the new astronauts stationed?
(a) Cape Canaveral.
(b) Edwards Air Force Base.
(c) Kennedy Space Center.
(d) Langley Air Force Base.

4. 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 wants her husband to be a famous astronaut.
(c) She wants to move out of the desert.
(d) She thinks it will be safer than flying high-performance jet fighters.

5. When do the pilots wear their bridge coats?
(a) When they attend another pilot's funeral.
(b) When it is raining.
(c) When superior officers visit the base.
(d) When they are on patrol.

6. How many planes does a pilot have to shoot down in combat to be considered an "ace"?
(a) 5.
(b) 10.
(c) 3.
(d) 7.

7. What does the author compare the career path of a fighter pilot to?
(a) A marathon.
(b) A sprint.
(c) A pyramid.
(d) A journey.

8. What is the top speed attained during the October 14th flight?
(a) Mach 1.05.
(b) Mach 0.96.
(c) Mach 0.80.
(d) Mach 1.10.

9. Who is Bob White?
(a) The reporter writing the Life stories.
(b) The Air Force's prime pilot for the X-15 project at Edwards.
(c) The lead engineer on Project Mercury.
(d) The head of mission control.

10. What do Cape Canaveral and its surroundings remind the pilots of?
(a) Patrick Air Force Base.
(b) Langley Air Force Base.
(c) Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
(d) Muroc Army Air Base.

11. Which astronaut is known as the Icy Commander?
(a) Pete Conrad.
(b) John Glenn.
(c) Alan Shepard.
(d) Deke Slayton.

12. What is the unofficial tradition at Cape Canaveral?
(a) The pilots fly themselves to the Cape.
(b) No drinking is allowed.
(c) The pilots work around the clock so they can get back to Langley.
(d) No wives are allowed.

13. How many kills does Yeager have by the end of World War II?
(a) 13 1/2.
(b) 10.
(c) 21.
(d) 5 1/2.

14. When a pilot is in the air and looking down at the ground, what does he most often feel?
(a) Airsick.
(b) Like it's time to get back to base.
(c) Superior to the people below.
(d) Grateful he has the opportunity to fly.

15. Why do the volunteers report to Lovelace?
(a) For medical testing.
(b) To observe rocket testing.
(c) For psychological testing.
(d) For flight training.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does NASA hire to be the astronauts' press representative?

2. Which of the astronauts had separated from his wife, but reconciles with her after the psychological interviews at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base because he thinks it will improve his chances for astronaut selection?

3. What is Chuck Yeager's signature flying move?

4. Which of the astronauts commands the least star power?

5. When the book begins, where is the Naval Air Station that Pete Conrad is stationed at?

(see the answer keys)

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