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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. When communicating with mission control, what does Glenn refer to his capsule as?

2. After countless delays and several launch attempts, on what day is the manned flight finally launched?

3. What is the AWC?

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

5. How many orbits does Cooper complete?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the general assumption regarding why the capsule's hatch blew before the helicopter hooks on?

2. 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?

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

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

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

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

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

8. Why is Betty Grissom so upset at the treatment of Gus after his flight?

9. During an international space conference attended by the Russians to publicize their successes in space, what reassuring fact does the United States learn?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

As NASA's space program becomes more developed, changes occur throughout the program.

a. Compare and contrast the selection process of the first group of astronauts with the group of astronauts selected by Yeager at the end of the book.

b. Compare and contrast the attitudes of the Original Seven with the attitudes of the Next Nine when they were selected for the astronaut program.

c. Compare and contrast the treatment of the Original Seven and the Next Nine when each group became astronauts.

(see the answer keys)

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