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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. On what day does Shepard's Mercury capsule launch?
(a) May 5.
(b) May 10.
(c) May 25.
(d) May 12.

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

3. The first test flight using an Atlas rocket is unmanned. Who or what goes up in the second test flight?
(a) A chimpanzee.
(b) John Glenn.
(c) Alan Shepard.
(d) A dog.

4. During the launch itself, how much fuel is being consumed by the rockets each second?
(a) 1000 pounds.
(b) 1 ton.
(c) 56,000 gallons.
(d) 2 1/2 tons.

5. What is significant about Cooper's flight?
(a) It will be the first flight of the Apollo program.
(b) It is the last scheduled Mercury flight.
(c) It will orbit the moon.
(d) It will be the shortest duration flight.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many orbits does Cooper complete?

2. Sixteen days after Grissom's flight, the Russians launch another cosmonaut into space. How many times does the cosmonaut orbit the Earth before landing?

3. Which two astronauts are selected to be the backup astronauts?

4. When does the second Mercury flight take place?

5. What is the pervading feeling as the launch approaches?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do neither John Glenn nor his wife, Annie, foresee the excitement that John's flight will cause?

2. The evening before the second Mercury flight, Joe Walker runs into Gus Grissom. Walker tries to get Grissom's goat by insisting that the X-15 program will soon pass the Mercury program and that he and the other Edwards pilots are the "real" pilots. Why do these remarks not bother Grissom at all?

3. Why does Grissom's suit not keep him buoyant when he is awaiting rescue in the ocean?

4. What reaction does the American public have to the chimpanzee's flight?

5. Why is there a certain danger in scrapping the Redstone rocket in favor of the Atlas rockets?

6. Why does NASA select the primary pilot and two backups with a few weeks to go before the launch instead of selecting the primary pilot the day before the launch as is originally planned?

7. What worries the astronauts the most about Project Mercury potentially losing funding?

8. For the third space flight, the astronaut's wife decided to write her own story for Life magazine. The magazine rents her a "safe house" to watch the launch from so no one knows where she and her children are. Why does this action upset Shorty Powers?

9. When urination had been a problem in the procedures trainer, what had some of the astronauts done out of necessity and what are the dangers involved in a real-world situation?

10. Why does Webb declare Cooper's flight to be the last of the Mercury program?

(see the answer keys)

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