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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. How long is Cooper's flight?

2. Why are the Edward's pilots miffed by NASA's treatment of Grissom after the mistake in the capsule?

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

4. When the capsule splashes down and Shepard is detaching all of the hoses so that he can leave the capsule, what sound does he hear?

5. Why does the Air Force bring Chuck Yeager back to Edwards?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. When Bob Gilruth calls the astronauts together for an emergency meeting just before Christmas, what is the purpose of the meeting?

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

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

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

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

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

9. 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?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

During the period in which Project Mercury was being launched, the Cold War was in full swing.

a. How did the Cold War affect Project Mercury and its projected time frame?

b. How did the Soviet's successes in space affect and/or change NASA's projects?

c. What fears did the Soviet successes raise?

Essay Topic 3

When we are first introduced to the pilots at Muroc Army Air Base, we meet a cocky group of young pilots that daily face danger and possible death from just doing their jobs.

a. List the dangers the pilots faced daily when conducting their test flights.

b. List off-duty dangers that resulted from their cocky and larger-than-life egos.

(see the answer keys)

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