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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do the pilots at Edwards finally expect the public to realize based on the chimpanzee's successful flight?
(a) That any trained animal can pilot the capsule and that the pilots at Edwards are the real pilots.
(b) That the dream of space travel is finally a reality.
(c) That the ape is being considered for a medal of courage.
(d) That only a real, trained pilot is capable of flying the Mercury capsule.

2. What is the AWC?
(a) All Weather Club.
(b) Astronaut Wives Club.
(c) Amazing Women Club.
(d) Astronaut Waiting Club.

3. How does Slayton refer to NASA's decision in statements to the press?
(a) As an understandable decision.
(b) As an operational decision.
(c) As the right thing to do.
(d) As a huge mistake.

4. Shepard is strapped so tightly into the capsule that he can't feel the weightlessness he knows he is experiencing. What item floats in front of him in the capsule?
(a) An oxygen hose.
(b) A replacement battery.
(c) A rivet.
(d) A washer.

5. Who is a part of the "new breed" of Air Force pilots?
(a) James Webb.
(b) Chuck Yeager.
(c) Joe Walker.
(d) Neil Armstrong.

6. On the space flight, what becomes a major issue for the astronaut?
(a) Loose heat shields.
(b) Too many experiments.
(c) Low fuel levels.
(d) Fly-by-wire operations.

7. What happens in Washington at about the same time as Yeager is taxiing down the runway for his test flight?
(a) President Kennedy is assassinated.
(b) The Secretary of Defense announces that the X-20 program is being cancelled.
(c) Congress slashes NASA's budget in half.
(d) Vice President Johnson declares the Mercury program to be a complete success.

8. What is the concern that controllers have when preparing to bring Glenn back in through the atmosphere?
(a) That the blood pressure monitor is malfunctioning.
(b) That the heat shields are loose.
(c) That the capsule will overshoot the planned splash zone.
(d) That the parachute will not deploy.

9. What kind of rocket launches the first Mercury capsule?
(a) Canaveral rocket.
(b) Redstone rocket.
(c) X-21 rocket.
(d) Atlas rocket.

10. John Glenn's flight and his taking on "the mighty Soviet Integral" causes comparisons with what Biblical story?
(a) David and Goliath.
(b) Sodom and Gomorrah.
(c) Samson and Delilah.
(d) Cain and Abel.

11. Why is Chris Kraft furious with the astronaut?
(a) The astronaut broke the capsule's hatch.
(b) The astronaut's parade was longer than Glenn's parade.
(c) The astronaut conducted too many experiments.
(d) The astronaut ignores all the fuel warnings during the flight.

12. What political action occurs between the Soviet's launch of their cosmonaut and the scheduled launch of Shepard?
(a) The X-16 disaster.
(b) The Bay of Pigs.
(c) The dismantling of Project Mercury.
(d) The assassination of President Kennedy.

13. Who is the scheduled backup astronaut for the first manned orbital flight?
(a) Gordon Cooper.
(b) Deke Slayton.
(c) Alan Shepard.
(d) Scott Carpenter.

14. The next manned space flight occurs in 1965 and the space program continues still today. Yet one thing was lost from the original Mercury program and still remains different today. What it is?
(a) Pilot training programs are no longer in demand.
(b) Congress no longer has oversight of NASA's budget.
(c) Astronauts are no longer seen as national heroes.
(d) NASA is not dedicated to the space program.

15. Which astronaut takes Slayton's place for the next flight?
(a) Gordon Cooper.
(b) Alan Shepard.
(c) Wally Schirra.
(d) Scott Carpenter.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happens when the second Mercury flight splashes down?

2. How many days before the planned Mercury launch do the Russians put a man into space?

3. Who is James Webb?

4. Based on the magazine article that is run on Glenn, Grissom, and Shepard, what do these three become known as?

5. When the men return from their trip to the White House, what question is on the mind of each of their wives?

(see the answer keys)

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