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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 pervading feeling as the launch approaches?

2. How long is Cooper's flight?

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

4. Which two astronauts are selected to be the backup astronauts?

5. When the astronauts arrive in Houston, they are told that there will be a "little" cocktail party for them. Where is the cocktail party held?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

3. In Chapter 15, what does John Glenn argue with James Webb about?

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

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

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

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

8. Why does Walter Cronkite tell the American people that he is afraid that we may have lost an astronaut?

9. What worries the astronauts the most about Project Mercury potentially losing funding?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Project Mercury first began, the pilots were flying to Cape Canaveral for their training sessions. Later, as Project Mercury outgrew Cape Canaveral, the program was moved to Houston. Compare and contrast the astronauts' lifestyles in Cape Canaveral and Houston.

Essay Topic 2

In the early days of the space program, while the Americans were blowing up more rockets than they were successfully launching, an international conference was held that was attended by both the Soviets and the Americans.

a. What did the United States learn as a result of attending the conference?

b. What fears were assuaged for the United States by the international conference?

c. Had the Cold War not been ongoing, could the United States and Russian programs worked together to enhance both programs? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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