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

2. What problem does the Army have with Yeager piloting the X-1?
(a) They can't keep his wife away from the base.
(b) They can't hold him back.
(c) They can't convince him the sound barrier is real.
(d) They can't stop him from drinking.

3. Scott Carpenter is the only astronaut who has a touch of what in him?
(a) A ladies' man.
(b) A poet.
(c) A rebel.
(d) An activist.

4. How many test pilots are in the original group in Jacksonville?
(a) 8.
(b) 20.
(c) 35.
(d) 12.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Who is in charge of testing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base?

3. In what year does the story begin?

4. What is the Navy-calculated probability that a career Navy pilot will die in an aircraft accident?

5. What is Gus Grissom awarded for his actions during combat in Korea?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Jane Conrad's nightmares and hallucinations?

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

3. What is the procedures trainer?

4. Why do many pilots choose to try to pilot a wounded aircraft to the ground rather than eject?

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

6. Why do the pilots come to hate Lovelace?

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

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

9. What is the begrudging consensus finally reached from the Konakai Séance regarding their "off hours" behavior?

10. The morning after the press conference, the newspapers are full of stories about the astronauts. What do the stories highlight?

(see the answer keys)

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