Imagine arriving back in your hometown – Columbus, Ohio – and you are not only greeted by a downtown parade in your honor complete with speeches from both the governor and the mayor but it’s also announced that you have been selected as ‘Man of the Year’ by the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce.
And it’s the same year as your twentieth high school reunion.
Donn Fulton Eisele was born June 23, 1930 in Columbus, Ohio. Eisele graduated from West High School in 1948 and was voted ‘most likely to succeed’ in his school’s yearbook. His classmates remember him as being shy & quiet.
He grew up near a small airport on Sullivant Avenue. He was the son of Herman Eisele who was a Dispatch printer and his mother June. Donn was an Eagle Scout and had earned forty merit badges by the time he was 16. During WWII, West High School offered practicum classes off campus geared toward the military. Students were even exposed to live military jets and planes.
Not coincidentally, many of Donn’s classmates found careers in the U.S Air Force. Donn was accepted into the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and graduated with a B.S. degree in 1952.
Eisele then joined the Air Force and became a jet fighter pilot. He graduated from pilot school at Edwards AFB in California and then in 1960 earned a Masters degree in astronautics at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton. He earned the reputation as a relaxed pilot and a reliable team member.
NASA selected Eisele among the third group as an astronaut in October 1963. He trained in the classroom and on simulators. There were special training flights where he learned how to live beyond the pull of gravity.
He trained for five years for the Apollo 7 mission including jungle training in Panama and flying the supersonic T-38 trainer.
Unfortunately, neither one of his parents would live to see Donn blast off into space. In 1964, both Herman & June died of heart attacks within five days of each other.
Apollo 7 would be NASA’s first manned mission since Apollo 1 where the entire crew was killed. A fire broke out on Pad 34 at the Kennedy Space Center on Jan 27, 1967 killing all three astronauts. The tragedy threatened to end America’s program to put a man on the moon.
NASA engineers completely redesigned the Apollo capsule. Donn was command module pilot. He was 5’7, 150 lbs. and the virtual unknown of the crew. He flew with Wally Schirra, jr – the commander – who had flown two previous missions as one of the original seven astronauts and Marine pilot Walter Cunningham who was the lunar module pilot. Cunningham had raced up through the ranks quickly.
They were dubbed the ‘Three Ws’ – Wally, Walt and What’s-His-Name. No one could properly pronounce or spell Eisele’s name (Eye slee).
America’s hope to make it to the moon was now in the hands of the crew of Apollo 7.
The Apollo 7 mission lifted off on Oct 11, 1968.
While in space, the crew successfully practiced docking procedures in preparation for future moon landings. The mission also confirmed the safety and reliability of the spacecraft and the Saturn 1-B rocket that took them into orbit.
And Apollo 7 was the first mission to complete several television broadcasts from space. Daily ten-minute live television shows were broadcast from orbit with the three astronaunts educating viewers on space flight but mostly clowning around and holding up humorous signs for which they would actually win an Emmy.
The Apollo 7 mission was a success. The ‘Three Ws’ mission lasted 263 hours. Their spacecraft travelled 4.5 million miles, reached an orbital speed of 17,500 mph and made 163 revolutions of the Earth.
The capsule splashed down in the Atlantic on Oct 22, 1968 only about 500 yards off target.
Confidence in the Apollo space program was renewed. Apollo 8, the next mission, successfully orbited the moon.
On July 20, 1969 Apollo 11 landed on the moon.
One month after splash down, Eisele returned to Columbus to a hero’s welcome. There was a jam-packed assembly at West High School where he was honored by his alma mater. Then a downtown parade with a welcome from Ohio Governor Rhodes and Columbus Mayor Sensenbrenner on the statehouse lawn.
That evening nearly 800 people dined in the Zodiac Room of the downtown Sheraton Hotel. In attendance was the mayor, city council, US congressmen and the West High School band and former members of his cross country team. During the evening’s program Eisele narrated a short NASA color film of the Apollo 7 flight, delighting former classmates with his wit.
The next day, Eisele was the guest of Ohio State University president Novice Fawcett for lunch and 50-yard-line seats to the Ohio State – Michigan game. The Buckeyes won 50-14 and would go on to win the national championship.
He retired from the Air Force in 1972 and left the space program.
He moved to Thailand and became Director of the U.S. Peace Corps.
Donn later transitioned into the corporate world. He worked for Prudential-Bache Securities in Ft Lauderdale, Fla.
In 1987, he and fellow astronaut Alan Shepard Jr traveled to Tokyo, Japan to promote a space camp when he suffered a heart attack. He died on Dec 2, 1987. Donn was 57.
He was survived by his second wife Susan. Eisele had two children with Susan and four from the previous marriage (Harriet).
Eisele received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, Air Force Senior Pilot Astronaut Wings, Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross and was given the Special Trustees Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1969.
He was inducted into the city of Columbus Hall of Fame in 1993.
At least one Ohio roadside rest stop has Donn Eisele’s picture adorning their walls alongside 24 other Ohio astronauts who have logged over 22,000 hours in space on 78 different space missions. O – H!
Sources: Images of America – West Columbus by Sean Lehosit (2015); Columbus Unforgettables by Harry Franken; New Mexico Museum of Space History, Donn F. Eisele, 2021; Major Donn Eisele, YouTube, Jan 13, 2025; Donn Eisele: Apollo 7 Pilot by Elizabeth Howell, Space.com, Oct 23, 2018; The guts & glory of forgotten astronaut Donn Eisele by Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan 19, 2017; Colonel Donn F Eisele – City of Columbus, Ohio, www.columbus.gov; Donn F Eisele ’48, Astronaut, www.westhighalumni.com; Donn F Eisle, Hall of Fame Class of 1993, Ohio Department of Veterans Services, dvs.ohio.gov; Donn F Eisle, www.nasa.gov; Astronaut Receives Numerous Honors by Ned Stout, Columbus Evening Dispatch, Nov 23, 1968; Photos: Donn Eisele, Columbus’ forgotten astronaut, Columbus Dispatch, June 24, 2019; Featured pictures printed in the Columbus Citizen Journal and courtesy of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.