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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. John Glenn's flight and his taking on "the mighty Soviet Integral" causes comparisons with what Biblical story?
(a) David and Goliath.
(b) Cain and Abel.
(c) Sodom and Gomorrah.
(d) Samson and Delilah.

2. Which one of the astronauts is selected for the first Mercury flight?
(a) John Glenn.
(b) Wally Schirra.
(c) Gus Grissom.
(d) Alan Shepard.

3. Why does the Air Force bring Chuck Yeager back to Edwards?
(a) To fly the X-32.
(b) To be the Director of Training Operations.
(c) To be the Director of Flight Operations.
(d) To qualify for the astronaut training program.

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

5. Sixteen days after Grissom's flight, the Russians launch another cosmonaut into space. How many times does the cosmonaut orbit the Earth before landing?
(a) 4.
(b) 2.
(c) 10.
(d) 17.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Cooper is in the capsule awaiting launch, all of his objective readings indicate that Cooper has done something no previous astronaut has done. What does Cooper do?

2. Why does the unmanned flight receive very little public attention?

3. Why does Shepard see the Earth through the periscope in black and white?

4. What is the AWC?

5. On what day does Shepard's Mercury capsule launch?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. When NASA grounds Deke Slayton, the press refers to him as being "keenly disappointed." How is Slayton actually feeling?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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