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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who is the biggest practical joker among the volunteers?
(a) Wally Schirra.
(b) Gus Grissom.
(c) Alan Shepard.
(d) Pete Conrad.

2. What record does Bob White set during one of his X-15 flights?
(a) The new altitude record.
(b) The new distance record.
(c) The new longest flight duration record.
(d) The new speed record.

3. 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 election of John F. Kennedy as the country's new President.
(c) The launch of another Sputnik satellite.
(d) The establishment of political special interest groups.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Who runs the Fly Inn near Muroc Field?

2. What is the unofficial tradition at Cape Canaveral?

3. What does the author compare the career path of a fighter pilot to?

4. While not logging any flying time comes to bother all seven of the astronauts, which is the astronaut who finally voices their complaint?

5. Who originally pilots the X-1 aircraft?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe what the chapter's title of "On the Balcony" refers to.

2. Why does the Army fire Slick Goodlin and give the X-1 piloting assignment to Yeager?

3. Name two reasons that fighter pilots hate to declare an emergency.

4. Why does Gus Grissom find the selection of Scott Carpenter as an astronaut odd?

5. Why does Gus Grissom feel that the reporter's question regarding whether or not the pilots feel they would come back from space is a stupid question?

6. Why do the pilots come to hate Lovelace?

7. What is written in Conrad's file as a reason he isn't selected for the Mercury program?

8. Contrast flight training with astronaut training.

9. The engineers tend to feel that the glorification of the astronauts has really gotten out of control. Why do they feel that way?

10. What does Chuck Yeager become convinced of as he pilots the X-1 at near-Mach I speeds?

(see the answer keys)

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