Donn F. Eisele

Eisele was born June 23, 1930, in Columbus, Ohio, to Herman Eugene Eisele (1899–1964) and Lee Ila June Eisele (née Davisson; 1900–1964).[2] He graduated from West High School in 1948.[3] He was an active Boy Scout and earned the rank of Еagle Scout.[4] He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1952,[3] and chose a commission in the United States Air Force. He received a Master of Science degree in Astronautics from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, in 1960.[5]

Following his commission, Eisele was sent to flight training. He was trained at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas, Williams Air Force Base, Arizona, and Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. After receiving his pilot wings in 1954, Eisele served four years as an interceptor pilot in South Dakota and in Libya until 1958.[6] He attended and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Experimental Test Pilot School (Class 62A) at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in 1962; his classmates included Charles Bassett and Theodore Freeman. Eisele was a project engineer and experimental test pilot at the Air Force Special Weapons Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. He flew experimental test flights in support of special weapons development programs.[7] He logged more than 4,200 hours flying time, 3,600 of which were in jet aircraft.[3]

Eisele prior to launching of Apollo 7.

The Apollo 7 crew: Eisele (l.), Wally Schirra (c.), and Walter Cunningham (r.).

Barbara Eden, Bob Hope, the Apollo 7 astronauts, and Paul Haney (voice of Mission Control) on The Bob Hope Show (November 6, 1968).

Eisele was part of NASA's third group of astronauts, selected in October 1963. In early 1966, Eisele was quietly selected as pilot for the Apollo 1 crew, along with Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom and Senior Pilot Ed White. But after dislocating his shoulder twice during training in January 1966, Eisele was replaced by Roger B. Chaffee. After corrective surgery on January 27, Eisele was named to the crew for the second crewed Apollo flight, with Command Pilot Walter "Wally" Schirra and Pilot Walter Cunningham. At this time, Eisele was promoted to the Senior Pilot position.[8][9]

In December 1966, Apollo 2 was canceled on the grounds that it would be an unnecessary repeat of Apollo 1, and Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham became the backups to Grissom's crew. But after Grissom, White, and Chaffee were killed in the Apollo 1 spacecraft fire of January 27, 1967, Schirra, Eisele, and Cunningham were named to fly the first crewed Apollo mission instead. It would ultimately be called Apollo 7.[10]

As the launch date approached, Eisele's participation was at risk; he was having an extramarital affair with a woman who would later become his second wife.[11] Astronaut Office Chief Deke Slayton had warned the crew that they were all "expendable", and that any extramarital affairs must not become public.[11]

Eisele remained on the crew, and on October 11, 1968, Apollo 7 was launched on an 11-day mission—the first crewed flight test of the third generation United States spacecraft. By this time, the Senior Pilot title was changed to Command Module Pilot. Together with spacecraft commander Schirra and Lunar Module Pilot Cunningham, Eisele performed simulated transposition and docking maneuvers with the upper stage of their Saturn IB launch vehicle, and acted as navigator, taking star sightings and aligning the spacecraft's guidance and navigation platform. The crew completed eight successful test firing maneuvers of the service module's propulsion engine. They also tested the performance of all spacecraft systems and broadcast the first live televised coverage of crew activities.[5]

Apollo 7 was placed in an Earth-orbit with an apogee of 153.5 nautical miles (284.3 km; 176.6 mi) and perigee of 122.6 nautical miles (227.1 km; 141.1 mi).[3] The 260-hour, 4.5 million mile (7.25 Gm; 7.25 million km) shakedown flight was successfully concluded on October 22, 1968, with splashdown occurring in the Atlantic, 8 miles (15 km) from the carrier USS Essex and only 0.3 miles (0.48 km; 480 m) from the predicted target.[3] Eisele logged 260 hours in space.[3]

Eisele served as backup Command Module Pilot for the 1969 Apollo 10 flight.[5] Eisele resigned from the Astronaut Office in 1970 and became technical assistant for crewed spaceflight at the NASA Langley Research Center, a position he occupied until retiring from both NASA and the Air Force in 1972.[12]

In July 1972, Eisele became Country Director of the U.S. Peace Corps in Thailand. Returning from Thailand two years later, he became Sales Manager for Marion Power Shovel, a division of Dresser Industries.[3] Eisele then handled private and corporate accounts for the investment firm of Oppenheimer & Company.[3]

In 1980, Eisele moved to Wilton Manors, Florida. In 1981, Eisele was appointed to a vacant seat on the Wilton Manors City Commission, and served in that political office for roughly one year.[13] After Eisele's death, the City of Wilton Manors named Donn Eisele Park in his memory.[14]

Eisele was a guide in the 1986 Concorde Comet Chase flights out of Miami and New York City.[15]

Grave of Donn Eisele at Arlington National Cemetery

In 1987, at the age of 57, Eisele died of a heart attack while on a business trip to Tokyo, Japan, where he was to attend the opening of a new Space Camp patterned on the one at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Eisele was cremated in Japan, and his ashes were buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.[16][17]