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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who originally pilots the X-1 aircraft?

2. What do the engineers see as the most difficult, challenging, and pioneering part of the project?

3. What recent invention makes Program Mercury possible at all?

4. What is housed at the Holloman Air Force Base?

5. Why are the wives calling each other at the beginning of the story?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do the pilots come to hate Lovelace?

2. What does Chuck Yeager become convinced of as he pilots the X-1 at near-Mach I speeds?

3. What is the begrudging consensus finally reached from the Konakai Séance regarding their "off hours" behavior?

4. Contrast flight training with astronaut training.

5. Why do the astronauts not refer to themselves or the other astronauts as "astronauts"?

6. According to the author, why does every pilot sound the same and talk with a lilting, vaguely Southern-sounding drawl?

7. Why do Chuck Yeager's comments in Phoenix almost set off a national scandal? What happens to avoid the scandal?

8. Why does Gus Grissom feel that the reporter's question regarding whether or not the pilots feel they would come back from space is a stupid question?

9. What is the goal of the pilots in Project Mercury, which is the same goal in every new and important flight project?

10. In 1952 at Edwards Air Force Base, 62 Air Force pilots died in the course of a 36-week training session. In 11 weeks of combat training at Nellis Air Force Base, 22 pilot trainees were killed. In Pete Conrad's own class in Florida, 10 out of 20 had been killed. In the opinion of the pilots, these rates of death are considered "extraordinary," yet they really are not. Why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

To say that the Original Seven astronauts were looked up to would be a gross understatement; they were adored and admired national heroes. Yet, in spite of their fame, they only had one magazine, Life, that told their stories.

a. What were the reasons for the press restrictions?

b. Why was Life magazine selected?

c. In today's world, would heroes agree to only one magazine with exclusive coverage? Why or why not?

d. If the intense hype surrounding the astronauts back then surrounded them in today's environment, identify three differences in how the astronauts would have been "marketed" to the nation.

Essay Topic 2

Six of the seven of the original Mercury astronauts eventually went up in a Mercury capsule before the program was discontinued in favor of the Gemini and Apollo programs.

a. What were the benefits of having an early flight? What were the drawbacks?

b. What were the benefits of having one of the last flights? What were the drawbacks?

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the book, the astronauts are compared with the pilots from Edwards Air Force Base. Compare and contrast these two groups in terms at the following times:

a. When Project Mercury was first being announced.

b. When Project Mercury was underway.

c. When Project Mercury was concluded.

(see the answer keys)

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