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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do the Project Mercury engineers think will be an easy task?
(a) Recovering the capsule after it splashed down.
(b) Launching the rockets.
(c) Training the astronauts.
(d) Controlling the capsule while in space.

2. In every flight class, what ratio of new trainees do not earn their wings?
(a) 1 in 3.
(b) 2 in 4.
(c) 7 in 9.
(d) 3 in 5.

3. What is the unofficial tradition at Cape Canaveral?
(a) No wives are allowed.
(b) No drinking is allowed.
(c) The pilots work around the clock so they can get back to Langley.
(d) The pilots fly themselves to the Cape.

4. What is the nickname given to Project Mercury by the top pilots at the base?
(a) Monkeys in Space.
(b) Spam in a Can.
(c) Corpses in a Capsule.
(d) The Flying Chimpanzees.

5. When Gus Grissom's wife gives birth to their first child, where is Gus?
(a) On base, completing his flight training.
(b) Fighting overseas in Korea.
(c) On a top-secret mission.
(d) In the delivery room.

6. Why do the pilots report to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base?
(a) For psychological and stress testing.
(b) For launch preparation.
(c) For medical testing.
(d) For flight protocol training.

7. When do the pilots wear their bridge coats?
(a) When they are on patrol.
(b) When they attend another pilot's funeral.
(c) When it is raining.
(d) When superior officers visit the base.

8. What political event leads to Project Mercury being thought of, for the first time, as potentially expendable?
(a) The public relations nightmare created by the Edwards' pilots.
(b) The launch of another Sputnik satellite.
(c) The establishment of political special interest groups.
(d) The election of John F. Kennedy as the country's new President.

9. Why should Yeager be grounded and not allowed to fly the test flight to break the sound barrier on October 14th?
(a) He has two broken ribs.
(b) His wife is having a baby.
(c) He has been out drinking the night before.
(d) He has the flu.

10. Who is known as the "king of the test fighter pilots"?
(a) Jim Lovell.
(b) Pete Conrad.
(c) Chuck Yeager.
(d) Gus Grissom.

11. What is the name Yeager gives to his plane?
(a) Guns of Death.
(b) Rocketing Rickshaw.
(c) Soaring Eagle.
(d) Glamorous Glynnis.

12. What does the author liken the deck of a carrier to?
(a) A skillet.
(b) A highway.
(c) A thimble.
(d) An ice rink.

13. Which pilot marches into General Schwichenberg's office, throws an enema bag on his desk, and refuses to give himself any more enemas?
(a) Wally Schirra.
(b) Pete Conrad.
(c) Alan Shepard.
(d) Jim Lovell.

14. What is the inscription found on the blackboard in the Astronaut Office?
(a) The turtle always beats the hare.
(b) Live free or die trying.
(c) The sports car is a symptom of male menopause.
(d) What goes around comes around.

15. What state is Chuck Yeager from?
(a) Kentucky.
(b) Florida.
(c) Minnesota.
(d) West Virginia.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the astronauts commands the least star power?

2. What is the top speed attained during the October 14th flight?

3. What does the author compare the career path of a fighter pilot to?

4. What does "pushing the outside of the envelope" refer to?

5. When Chuck Yeager is interviewed by reporters in Phoenix, what do the reporters want to know about?

(see the answer keys)

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