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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. As a result of his record-setting flight, where does Bob White show up?
(a) At the celebratory party at Pancho's.
(b) On the cover of Life magazine.
(c) At Langley Air Force Base.
(d) On the cover of Newsweek magazine.

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

4. 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 angry over a new testing policy for the pilots.
(c) They are sharing news of a new baby.
(d) They are planning a surprise party for the pilots.

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)?
(a) Scott Carpenter.
(b) Gus Grissom.
(c) Alan Shepard.
(d) John Glenn.

6. Which of the astronauts' wives has been previously divorced--a matter of public record that is not reported in the Life article?
(a) Deke Slayton.
(b) Gus Grissom.
(c) Gordon Cooper.
(d) Wally Schirra.

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

8. What does the author liken the deck of a carrier to?
(a) A skillet.
(b) An ice rink.
(c) A highway.
(d) A thimble.

9. When the book begins, where is the Naval Air Station that Pete Conrad is stationed at?
(a) Texas.
(b) Florida.
(c) California.
(d) Nevada.

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

11. What state is Chuck Yeager from?
(a) Florida.
(b) Kentucky.
(c) West Virginia.
(d) Minnesota.

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

13. When asked by a reporter how many of the astronauts expect to return from space, how many of them raise their hands?
(a) 12.
(b) 7.
(c) 3.
(d) 5.

14. What did the astronauts most often hit in the procedures trainer?
(a) The communications button.
(b) The oxygen stir handle.
(c) The launch button.
(d) The abort handle.

15. Who is John Glenn's greatest ally in the debate over how the astronauts should conduct themselves?
(a) Scott Carpenter.
(b) Gordon Cooper.
(c) Deke Slayton.
(d) Gus Grissom.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the nickname given to Project Mercury by the top pilots at the base?

2. Complete this flying theorem: "There are no accidents and no fatal flaws in the machines..."

3. What is the name Yeager gives to his plane?

4. What is Jim Lovell's nickname?

5. Who is Bob White?

(see the answer keys)

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