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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 John Glenn's 40th birthday, who comes to Glenn's birthday dinner?
(a) Alan and Louise Shepard.
(b) Gus and Betty Grissom.
(c) Lyndon and Ladybird Johnson.
(d) John and Jackie Kennedy.

2. As she waits for her husband to be launched into space, what is Louise Shepard doing?
(a) Watching television like everyone else.
(b) Hiding in her back bedroom in tears.
(c) Giving an interview to the reporters from Life magazine.
(d) Being a proper hostess for the people gathered in her house to watch the launch.

3. What is President Kennedy obsessed with?
(a) Defeating the Cubans.
(b) Promoting his space advisor to NASA's head.
(c) Catching up with the Russians in the space race.
(d) Dismantling Project Mercury.

4. How many days before the planned Mercury launch do the Russians put a man into space?
(a) 7.
(b) 2.
(c) 20.
(d) 15.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. On the space flight, what becomes a major issue for the astronaut?

2. After countless delays and several launch attempts, on what day is the manned flight finally launched?

3. Why is Alan Shepard grounded?

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

5. At the end of the book, what major political change occurs?

Short Essay Questions

1. What becomes an immutable part of the flight day drill for the astronaut's wife?

2. The wives had barely started getting settled into their new homes in Houston when something extraordinary starts happening. What is it?

3. What does Grissom say to the second group of astronauts to keep them in their place?

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

5. What does Shepard see as the main differences between the actual flight and the centrifuge's simulated flights?

6. Why is Betty Grissom so upset at the treatment of Gus after his flight?

7. The seven original Mercury astronauts receive the Iven C. Kincheloe Award for outstanding professional performance in the conduct of test flight from the Society for Experimental Test Pilots. What does receiving this award mean to the astronauts?

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

9. What is the general assumption regarding why the capsule's hatch blew before the helicopter hooks on?

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

(see the answer keys)

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