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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How much is NASA's press representative paid per year?
(a) $0.
(b) $37,500.
(c) $50,000.
(d) $125,000.

2. At the insistence of the astronauts, what feature is finally designed into the capsule?
(a) A lavatory.
(b) A homing device.
(c) A window.
(d) A mayday beacon.

3. When Gus Grissom's wife gives birth to their first child, where is Gus?
(a) On base, completing his flight training.
(b) On a top-secret mission.
(c) Fighting overseas in Korea.
(d) In the delivery room.

4. The pilots hold Konakai seances. What is Konakai?
(a) The title of one of Glenn's philosophical books.
(b) A Japanese warrior tradition.
(c) The bar the pilots gathered at after work.
(d) A hotel near Cape Canaveral.

5. While not logging any flying time comes to bother all seven of the astronauts, which is the astronaut who finally voices their complaint?
(a) Wally Schirra.
(b) Gus Grissom.
(c) Gordon Cooper.
(d) John Glenn.

6. What is the nightmare that Jane Conrad has repeatedly?
(a) That Jane is in the pilot's seat of a doomed plane.
(b) That a figure is coming up the walk to tell her that her husband had been killed.
(c) That a test plane will crash into their house.
(d) That her husband leaves her.

7. What do the engineers see as the most difficult, challenging, and pioneering part of the project?
(a) The flying capsule.
(b) The courage necessary to fly in the capsule.
(c) The technology.
(d) The flight itself.

8. What is housed at the Holloman Air Force Base?
(a) The chimpanzee colony.
(b) The rocket launchers.
(c) The mission control center.
(d) The psychologists' new testing facility.

9. What is the inscription found on the blackboard in the Astronaut Office?
(a) Live free or die trying.
(b) What goes around comes around.
(c) The sports car is a symptom of male menopause.
(d) The turtle always beats the hare.

10. What is the name Yeager gives to his plane?
(a) Glamorous Glynnis.
(b) Guns of Death.
(c) Rocketing Rickshaw.
(d) Soaring Eagle.

11. Why are the wives calling each other at the beginning of the story?
(a) They are trying to figure out who's husband was killed.
(b) They are sharing news of a new baby.
(c) They are planning a surprise party for the pilots.
(d) They are angry over a new testing policy for the pilots.

12. When Pete receives his top-secret orders, what is the project he is being asked to volunteer for?
(a) The Moon Project.
(b) The Mercury Project.
(c) The X-1 Project.
(d) The Saturn Project.

13. Which of the astronauts commands the most star power?
(a) Scott Carpenter.
(b) Alan Shepard.
(c) John Glenn.
(d) Deke Slayton.

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

15. Who is the only Marine in the group of seven astronauts?
(a) John Glenn.
(b) Pete Conrad.
(c) Gus Grissom.
(d) Alan Shepard.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Who is John Glenn's greatest ally in the debate over how the astronauts should conduct themselves?

3. What state is Chuck Yeager from?

4. What do Cape Canaveral and its surroundings remind the pilots of?

5. Which of the astronauts is actually an atheist (although he told the press that he had previously "attended" a Christian Science church with his wife)?

(see the answer keys)

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