Eisele, Donn Fulton

Born June 23, 1930, in Columbus, Ohio. US pilot and astronaut; major in the air force.

Eisele graduated in 1952 from the US Naval Academy, where he received the degree of bachelor of science. He also graduated from the Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California. He was awarded a master’s degree in astronautics from the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. He served as an experimental flight test officer at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. In 1963 he became an astronaut with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

From Oct. 11 to Oct. 22, 1968, Eisele, together with W. Cunningham and W. Schirra, undertook a flight in the spacecraft Apollo 7, which orbited the earth 163 times. During the mission, which lasted 10 days 20 hr 9 min, Eisele conducted the first flight test of the command module of the Apollo spacecraft.