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

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

3. The launch was originally scheduled for May 2nd, but has to be delayed. What delays the launch?
(a) Rocket problems.
(b) Fuel problems.
(c) Communication problems.
(d) Weather problems.

4. Which two astronauts are selected to be the backup astronauts?
(a) Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom.
(b) Wally Schirra and John Glenn.
(c) John Glenn and Gus Grissom.
(d) Alan Shepard and John Glenn.

5. Which astronaut is scheduled for the next space flight?
(a) Deke Slayton.
(b) Alan Shepard.
(c) John Glenn.
(d) Gus Grissom.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. How long is Cooper's flight?

3. How far away from the intended splash zone does the capsule land?

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

5. John Glenn's flight and his taking on "the mighty Soviet Integral" causes comparisons with what Biblical story?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

6. During the delay before the launch, Shepard found his biggest issue to be his need to use the restroom. However, no device for urination was designed into the capsule. Why not?

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

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. 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?

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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