Donn Eisele: A lesser-known Apollo astronaut

Eisele: one flight, no book

Donn Eisele, an Apollo astronaut, had one flight: Apollo 7. This was the shakedown flight to test out America’s moonship—and put the country back on track after the tragic Apollo 1 fire.

Eisele performed his job well on the mission. But he had problems nonetheless which contributed to his short career as an active astronaut.

Before the flight, Eisele was distracted. He was having an affair and covering it up poorly. It interfered with his work; at least that was the perception of his crew mates, Wally Schirra and Walt Cunningham. Still, Schirra stood up for Eisele and managed to keep him on the flight.

That wasn’t the end of Eisele’s problems. During the flight, the crew suffered head colds—which are a serious problem in zero G—and developed strained relations with Mission Control. While Schirra and Cunningham slept, it fell to Eisele to argue with flight controllers (on behalf of the crew) to postpone or cancel a live TV broadcast.

Schirra felt that the broadcast was superfluous and would interfere with the really important work of the mission. The entire crew wanted no part of the broadcast, at least for that day. To the people on the ground, this felt like mutiny. None of the three astronauts flew in space again.

I remember, as a collector of historic space memorabilia, that a training manual used by Eisele came up for sale. His name was on the cover, but he made no notes at all inside. Was he distracted by the affair? Was he lazy? Or did he just know the material cold and didn’t need to make notes? As a collector, I passed. I prefer materials with hand-written notes.

Donn Eisele eventually divorced his wife and married the woman with whom he was having the affair. He became a country director, in Thailand, for the Peace Corps.

In December 1987, Eisele died of a heart attack while visiting Tokyo, Japan on a trip to promote a Space Camp there. Unlike his crew mates (Schirra and Cunningham), Eisele never published a book about his experiences as an astronaut. So he remains and interesting, but lesser-known, Apollo astronaut.

Related posts:

1. Remembering Apollo 7
2. Apollo 10 and color TV
3. The Apollo 8 Crew: 40 Years Later

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