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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. What is the AWC?

2. What is the concern that controllers have when preparing to bring Glenn back in through the atmosphere?

3. Why is Alan Shepard grounded?

4. When the men return from their trip to the White House, what question is on the mind of each of their wives?

5. Who is Bob Gilruth?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

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

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

7. What irks the Original Seven wives about the Next Nine wives?

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

9. The Air Force has grand plans of their own for a space program. What do their plans include?

10. What is the effect on Shepard of having so many pre-flight simulations?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the beginning of our book, and throughout the selection process, we see these brave men having the support (or the perception of support) from their wives and families.

a. While stationed at Muroc, what is the wives' biggest fear? How do they support each other and what unwritten rules govern their roles as pilot wives?

b. Once their husbands are selected for the astronaut program, how do the women's lives change? Give at least three examples.

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Wally Schirra's Mercury flight came to be known as the "textbook" flight. Scott Carpenter's flight was not.

a. Identify three differences between the two flights that led to this distinction.

b. Describe how the pilot's personalities affected the outcome of the two flights.

c. From watching Carpenter's flight and learning from Carpenter's actions, Schirra insisted on one specific change from Carpenter's flight to his. What was the change? Why was it important?

(see the answer keys)

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