View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the one sound that test pilots' wives are most afraid of?
(a) The telephone.
(b) The sound of a plane's engine.
(c) The door bell.
(d) The church bells.

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

3. How does Ted Whelan die?
(a) He flies beneath the hard deck and into power lines.
(b) His plane crash lands in a swamp.
(c) He is in a car accident.
(d) His parachute fails to open.

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

5. What does Gus Grissom find to be the strangest experience for him in the beginning of the press conference?
(a) The flashing light bulbs from all of the cameras causes him to have a seizure.
(b) As soon as they appear, reporters start firing questions at them.
(c) The photographers are so eager for pictures of the astronauts and they haven't even been introduced yet.
(d) The absolute silence of the conference room as the pilots walk through the curtain for the first time is the strangest thing.

6. What does "pushing the outside of the envelope" refer to?
(a) The least amount of sleep a test pilot needs before being considered safe to fly.
(b) The farthest distance from the base a plane can fly without refueling.
(c) The new US Postal Service's mailing requirements.
(d) The limits of a particular aircraft's performance.

7. Which of the astronauts does not live with his family on or near the base, but houses his family 120 miles away from the base and lives in the base's Bachelor Quarters?
(a) John Glenn.
(b) Gus Grissom.
(c) Scott Carpenter.
(d) Deke Slayton.

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

9. Why do the pilots report to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base?
(a) For medical testing.
(b) For psychological and stress testing.
(c) For launch preparation.
(d) For flight protocol training.

10. What is Chuck Yeager's signature flying move?
(a) Pulling out of a steep dive just before crashing.
(b) Shooting straight up before leveling off.
(c) A slow roll, sixty feet off the deck.
(d) He has no signature move.

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

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

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

14. Where is Cape Canaveral located?
(a) Destin, Florida.
(b) Cocoa Beach, Florida.
(c) Miami Beach, Florida.
(d) Jacksonville, Florida.

15. Which pilot waxes philosophical when asked at the press conference about family and religion (much to the surprise and astonishment of the other pilots)?
(a) Gus Grissom.
(b) Deke Slayton.
(c) Alan Shepard.
(d) John Glenn.

Short Answer Questions

1. Scott Carpenter is the only astronaut who has a touch of what in him?

2. Who originally pilots the X-1 aircraft?

3. When asked by a reporter how many of the astronauts expect to return from space, how many of them raise their hands?

4. What is the Navy-calculated probability that a career Navy pilot will die in an aircraft accident?

5. What problem does the Army have with Yeager piloting the X-1?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 595 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample