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

2. Why do fighter pilots have an intense dislike for flight surgeons?
(a) They don't want to be grounded for medical reasons.
(b) They hate needles.
(c) They would rather be flying than in a waiting room.
(d) They don't have good insurance.

3. Why is Gus Grissom uncomfortable during the press conference?
(a) He doesn't like people.
(b) He is camera shy.
(c) He hates telling total strangers how he feels.
(d) He hates being misquoted in the newspapers.

4. 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) John Glenn.
(b) Gordon Cooper.
(c) Deke Slayton.
(d) Scott Carpenter.

5. 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) Deke Slayton.
(b) Scott Carpenter.
(c) Gus Grissom.
(d) John Glenn.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Why is Pete Conrad transferred to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland?

3. Why are the wives calling each other at the beginning of the story?

4. In every flight class, what ratio of new trainees do not earn their wings?

5. Who is the biggest practical joker among the volunteers?

Short Essay Questions

1. In detailing the experiences of the astronauts, the author states that "everywhere they went in their travels people stopped what they were doing and gave them a certain look of awe and sympathy." Awe is easily understood. Why do they look at them with sympathy?

2. What is the goal of the pilots in Project Mercury, which is the same goal in every new and important flight project?

3. What is the procedures trainer?

4. Contrast flight training with astronaut training.

5. The training program for the chimpanzees is based on operant conditioning. Describe what that means for the chimpanzees.

6. 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?

7. In 1952 at Edwards Air Force Base, 62 Air Force pilots died in the course of a 36-week training session. In 11 weeks of combat training at Nellis Air Force Base, 22 pilot trainees were killed. In Pete Conrad's own class in Florida, 10 out of 20 had been killed. In the opinion of the pilots, these rates of death are considered "extraordinary," yet they really are not. Why?

8. As the number of killed pilots rises, how does that affect the mood of Pete Conrad?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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