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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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?
(a) Gordon Cooper.
(b) Deke Slayton.
(c) Scott Carpenter.
(d) John Glenn.

2. What is focused on as being the pilots' best qualification for their selection to the Project Mercury astronaut program at the press conference?
(a) Their piloting skills.
(b) Their superior adaptability.
(c) Their physical fitness.
(d) Their extraordinary combat accomplishments.

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

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

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

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

7. How are wives notified if their husband is injured or killed during a test flight?
(a) There is no official procedure for notifying the family of death.
(b) Another one of the wives goes to the house to break the news.
(c) The Navy sends an official letter to the wife.
(d) The Navy sends a man with official or moral authority to the house.

8. What is the nickname given to Pete's flight test class?
(a) Class A.
(b) Group 20.
(c) The Soaring Eagles.
(d) Top Guns.

9. What political event leads to Project Mercury being thought of, for the first time, as potentially expendable?
(a) The public relations nightmare created by the Edwards' pilots.
(b) The establishment of political special interest groups.
(c) The launch of another Sputnik satellite.
(d) The election of John F. Kennedy as the country's new President.

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

11. What is Jim Lovell's nickname?
(a) Scooby.
(b) Shaky.
(c) Ears.
(d) Ace.

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

13. Which of the astronauts rises early each morning to do his roadwork where everyone can see him?
(a) Gus Grissom.
(b) Wally Schirra.
(c) Deke Slayton.
(d) John Glenn.

14. When Chuck Yeager is interviewed by reporters in Phoenix, what do the reporters want to know about?
(a) The next plane Yeager will be testing.
(b) The sound barrier.
(c) The astronauts.
(d) How Yeager's family is.

15. What feature makes Pete Conrad different from a lot of other pilots?
(a) He can't stand being trifled with.
(b) He speaks both English and Spanish.
(c) He is taller than average.
(d) He is older than average.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why should Yeager be grounded and not allowed to fly the test flight to break the sound barrier on October 14th?

2. What is the biggest challenge of landing on a carrier ship?

3. What are the pilots known by at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base?

4. How many kills does Yeager have by the end of World War II?

5. When Jane Conrad realizes the cavalier manner in which the pilots discuss their killed comrades, what does she liken their discussion to?

(see the answer keys)

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