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

2. What does the Air Force award to their pilots who fly at altitudes over fifty miles?
(a) A Medal of Honor.
(b) Air Force Astronaut Wings.
(c) A Distinguished Service Award.
(d) A Courageous Accomplishment Medal.

3. Why is Alan Shepard grounded?
(a) He falls short of the required flight qualification hours.
(b) He experiences inner ear problems.
(c) He fails a drug test.
(d) He experiences heart palpitations.

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

5. What is the pervading feeling as the launch approaches?
(a) Our boys always botch it.
(b) This time it will work.
(c) The Russians already beat us. Why bother?
(d) We can do this.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does Annie Glenn refuse to let into her house because the press storm around the launch is so excruciating to her?

2. How does the author both begin and end the Epilogue?

3. What is President Kennedy obsessed with?

4. Who is Bob Gilruth?

5. Which of the astronauts place a sign inside the capsule reading "No handball playing in this area" to help keep Shepard relaxed and loose?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

7. 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?

8. 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?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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