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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. Who is in charge of crew selection?
(a) John Kennedy.
(b) James Webb.
(c) Deke Slayton.
(d) John Glenn.

2. How long is the launch delayed?
(a) Seventeen hours.
(b) Four hours.
(c) Forty minutes.
(d) Twenty minutes.

3. When does the second Mercury flight take place?
(a) July 21.
(b) September 7.
(c) August 30.
(d) June 7.

4. After being grounded, what is Deke Slayton's new role in NASA?
(a) Coordinator of Astronaut Activities.
(b) Divison Head - Test Flight.
(c) Communications Coordinator.
(d) Head of Operations.

5. Which astronaut is named to fly in the second Mercury capsule?
(a) Wally Schirra.
(b) Deke Slayton.
(c) Gus Grissom.
(d) John Glenn.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which chimpanzee is chosen to go into space?

2. As part of the Air Force's astronaut training program, what do the astronaut trainees attend in Washington?

3. Who is James Webb?

4. As she waits for her husband to be launched into space, what is Louise Shepard doing?

5. How long is the second Russian cosmonaut in space for?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

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

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

5. Why does Walter Cronkite tell the American people that he is afraid that we may have lost an astronaut?

6. Why does the next group of astronauts selected contain fourteen trainees instead of the intended eleven trainees?

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

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

9. During an international space conference attended by the Russians to publicize their successes in space, what reassuring fact does the United States learn?

10. Why are the American politicians and reporters alarmed by the Russian's flight?

(see the answer keys)

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