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Donn EiseleNASA astronaut
Date of Birth: 23.06.1950
Country:  USA |
Content:
Early Life and Education
Donn F. Eisele was born on June 23, 1930, in Columbus, Ohio. He graduated from high school in 1948 and attended the United States Naval Academy, graduating in 1952 with a Bachelor of Science degree. In 1960, he earned a Master of Science in astronautical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology.
Military Service
Despite graduating from the Naval Academy, Eisele chose to serve in the Air Force. He completed flight training at Goodfellow Air Force Base in Texas, Williams Air Force Base in Arizona, and Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, earning his wings as a military aviator in February 1954.
Eisele served as an interceptor pilot at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and at Wheelus Air Base near Tripoli, Libya from 1954-1956. After graduating from the Air Force Institute of Technology, he served as an aerospace weapon and rocket propulsion engineer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base until November 1961. From November 1961, he trained at the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School, and served as a pilot instructor and flight test engineer before being assigned to the Air Force Special Weapons Center at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, where he remained until his selection for the astronaut program.
Eisele logged 4,200 flying hours, including 3,600 hours in jet aircraft. He retired from the Air Force in June 1972 with the rank of colonel.
NASA Career
In October 1963, Eisele was selected for NASA's third group of astronauts. After completing training, he was assigned to the NASA Astronaut Office. In late 1965, he was designated as the pilot for the prime crew of the first crewed Apollo mission, but suffered an injury during a parabolic flight. He was transferred to the backup crew, and his spot in the prime crew was taken by Roger Chaffee.
Eisele made his first and only spaceflight in October 1968 as the command module pilot on Apollo 7. The mission marked the first crewed flight of the Apollo spacecraft after the tragedy of January 27, 1967. The flight lasted 10 days, 20 hours, 9 minutes, and 3 seconds. He was later designated as the backup command module pilot for Apollo 10 and was expected to be included in the prime crew for Apollo 13 or Apollo 14, but left the astronaut corps in 1970 for personal reasons.
From 1970 to June 1, 1972, he served as a technical assistant for manned space flight at the Langley Research Center.
Post-NASA Career
After leaving NASA, Eisele was appointed as the director of the Peace Corps office in Bangkok, where he served from 1972-1974. He then entered the private sector, becoming the director of sales for Marion Power Shovel Co. in 1974 and later becoming the executive vice president of Trans Carib Air.
From 1980-1981, he was the vice president of investments at Drexel Burnham Lambert. From 1981-1986, he worked as an administrator for Oppenheimer & Co. in Florida.
His final employment was with Prudential Bache Securities in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Date and Cause of Death
Eisele died of a heart attack (myocardial infarction) on December 2, 1987, while on a business trip to Tokyo.
