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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 is the nickname given to Project Mercury by the top pilots at the base?
(a) The Flying Chimpanzees.
(b) Monkeys in Space.
(c) Corpses in a Capsule.
(d) Spam in a Can.

2. From the pilots' point of view, what is the only thing lacking during their astronaut training?
(a) The pioneer spirit.
(b) The intense and constant media scrutiny.
(c) Resources being funneled to the program.
(d) Flying time.

3. When do the pilots wear their bridge coats?
(a) When they attend another pilot's funeral.
(b) When superior officers visit the base.
(c) When it is raining.
(d) When they are on patrol.

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

5. What is the top speed attained during the October 14th flight?
(a) Mach 0.80.
(b) Mach 1.10.
(c) Mach 1.05.
(d) Mach 0.96.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Who is Bob White?

3. Muroc Army Air Base is renamed in 1948. What is its new name?

4. What is the name Yeager gives to his plane?

5. What political event leads to Project Mercury being thought of, for the first time, as potentially expendable?

Short Essay Questions

1. Jane Conrad sees a real man going to her front door and realizes it wasn't one of her hallucinations. Who is the man and why is he there?

2. Why do so many fighter pilots accept the Mercury mission?

3. According to the author, why does every pilot sound the same and talk with a lilting, vaguely Southern-sounding drawl?

4. 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?

5. Contrast flight training with astronaut training.

6. Name three tests conducted at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on the pilots.

7. NASA originally needs six astronauts for the Mercury program, but is going to take twelve astronauts. Why?

8. Why do the astronauts not refer to themselves or the other astronauts as "astronauts"?

9. Where is Muroc Field and what is is the significance of the project taking place there?

10. Why is the book titled "The Right Stuff"?

(see the answer keys)

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