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Apollo Pilot: The Memoir of Astronaut Donn Eisele
In October 1968 Donn Eisele flew with fellow astronauts Walt Cunningham and Wally Schirra into Earth orbit in Apollo 7. The first manned mission in the Apollo program and the first manned flight after a fire during a launch pad test killed three astronauts in early 1967, Apollo 7 helped restart NASA’s manned-spaceflight program.
Known to many as a goofy, lighthearted prankster, Eisele worked his way from the U.S. Naval Academy to test pilot school and then into the select ranks of America’s prestigious astronaut corps. He was originally on the crew of Apollo 1 before being replaced due to injury. After that crew died in a horrific fire, Eisele was on the crew selected to return Americans to space. Despite the success of Apollo 7, Eisele never flew in space again, as divorce and a testy crew commander led to the three astronauts being labeled as troublemakers.
Unbeknownst to everyone, after his retirement as a technical assistant for manned spaceflight at NASA’s Langley Research Center in 1972, Eisele wrote in detail about his years in the air force and his time in the Apollo program. Long after his death, Francis French discovered Eisele’s unpublished memoir, and Susie Eisele Black (Donn’s widow) allowed French access to her late husband’s NASA files and personal effects. Readers can now experience an Apollo story they assumed would never be written as well as the story behind its discovery.
Known to many as a goofy, lighthearted prankster, Eisele worked his way from the U.S. Naval Academy to test pilot school and then into the select ranks of America’s prestigious astronaut corps. He was originally on the crew of Apollo 1 before being replaced due to injury. After that crew died in a horrific fire, Eisele was on the crew selected to return Americans to space. Despite the success of Apollo 7, Eisele never flew in space again, as divorce and a testy crew commander led to the three astronauts being labeled as troublemakers.
Unbeknownst to everyone, after his retirement as a technical assistant for manned spaceflight at NASA’s Langley Research Center in 1972, Eisele wrote in detail about his years in the air force and his time in the Apollo program. Long after his death, Francis French discovered Eisele’s unpublished memoir, and Susie Eisele Black (Donn’s widow) allowed French access to her late husband’s NASA files and personal effects. Readers can now experience an Apollo story they assumed would never be written as well as the story behind its discovery.
184 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 11, 2017
"Apollo Pilot" is the reconstructed memoirs of Donn Eisele, the "forgotten" crew member of the "forgotten Apollo mission," Apollo 7.
Editor Francis French has painstakingly assembled a coherent narrative from the collected sheets of faded, typed onionskin documents that lay nearly forgotten in Eisele's stored personal effects for more than 20 years after the astronaut unexpectedly died of a heart attack in December 1987. French wisely avoided the temptation to render Eisele's writings more politically correct. Thus, we see Eisele's words through a clear glass, and it is both jarring and refreshing to read his opinions of his colleagues and NASA management during the Apollo program.
Command Module Pilot Eisele flew his first and only spaceflight in October 1968, when Apollo 7 circled the Earth for 11 days. Two months later, Apollo 8 made mankind's first voyage to the Moon. The accomplishments of Apollo 7 were rapidly overshadowed by the relentless string of missions that culminated in Apollo 11's landing in July 1969.
Eisele's commander on Apollo 7 was Wally Schirra, the colorful Mercury astronaut who was by now tired of the grind but who wanted to fly one final mission. Contrary to his public reputation as a fun-loving prankster, Schirra was gruff and frequently humorless behind the scenes. Eisele's portrayal of Schirra is consistent with what we read in his crew mate Walt Cunningham's book, "The All-American Boys," and with the opinions of other people who worked with Schirra and the crew. Nonetheless, Eisele portrays himself as trying to make the best of the situation and enjoy his spaceflight, despite his frustration with Schirra's caustic remarks and lack of preparation for the mission.
If there is a fault with the book, it is that it is too short, and that is only because Eisele passed away before anyone could flesh out the memoirs with him. I imagine Mr. French must have been exhilarated to be presented with the opportunity to reconstruct the manuscript, and yet also terribly frustrated that he found the project 20 years too late to ask Eisele any questions.
An afterword by Eisele's second wife, Susan Eisele Black, helps to shed light on some of the crushing disappointments that Eisele suffered shortly after his mission. Rumors abounded then (and persist today) that the entire Apollo 7 crew was blackballed and denied the opportunity to get future missions because Manned Spaceflight Director Chris Kraft felt they were insubordinate. (Schirra famously defied Mission Control repeatedly throughout the mission, and insisted that his subordinates Eisele and Cunningham follow his lead.) Eisele's reputation as the black sheep of the astronaut corps was sealed when he became the first astronaut to get a divorce, which NASA saw as a public relations blemish. When Eisele remarried, almost none of his friends and fellow astronauts came to the wedding, which hurt him deeply.
While I was left wanting much more, I am nonetheless grateful to have this glimpse into the Apollo pilot that none of us knew well. Congratulations to Francis French for bringing this memoir to our attention and for editing it with such a light touch.
Editor Francis French has painstakingly assembled a coherent narrative from the collected sheets of faded, typed onionskin documents that lay nearly forgotten in Eisele's stored personal effects for more than 20 years after the astronaut unexpectedly died of a heart attack in December 1987. French wisely avoided the temptation to render Eisele's writings more politically correct. Thus, we see Eisele's words through a clear glass, and it is both jarring and refreshing to read his opinions of his colleagues and NASA management during the Apollo program.
Command Module Pilot Eisele flew his first and only spaceflight in October 1968, when Apollo 7 circled the Earth for 11 days. Two months later, Apollo 8 made mankind's first voyage to the Moon. The accomplishments of Apollo 7 were rapidly overshadowed by the relentless string of missions that culminated in Apollo 11's landing in July 1969.
Eisele's commander on Apollo 7 was Wally Schirra, the colorful Mercury astronaut who was by now tired of the grind but who wanted to fly one final mission. Contrary to his public reputation as a fun-loving prankster, Schirra was gruff and frequently humorless behind the scenes. Eisele's portrayal of Schirra is consistent with what we read in his crew mate Walt Cunningham's book, "The All-American Boys," and with the opinions of other people who worked with Schirra and the crew. Nonetheless, Eisele portrays himself as trying to make the best of the situation and enjoy his spaceflight, despite his frustration with Schirra's caustic remarks and lack of preparation for the mission.
If there is a fault with the book, it is that it is too short, and that is only because Eisele passed away before anyone could flesh out the memoirs with him. I imagine Mr. French must have been exhilarated to be presented with the opportunity to reconstruct the manuscript, and yet also terribly frustrated that he found the project 20 years too late to ask Eisele any questions.
An afterword by Eisele's second wife, Susan Eisele Black, helps to shed light on some of the crushing disappointments that Eisele suffered shortly after his mission. Rumors abounded then (and persist today) that the entire Apollo 7 crew was blackballed and denied the opportunity to get future missions because Manned Spaceflight Director Chris Kraft felt they were insubordinate. (Schirra famously defied Mission Control repeatedly throughout the mission, and insisted that his subordinates Eisele and Cunningham follow his lead.) Eisele's reputation as the black sheep of the astronaut corps was sealed when he became the first astronaut to get a divorce, which NASA saw as a public relations blemish. When Eisele remarried, almost none of his friends and fellow astronauts came to the wedding, which hurt him deeply.
While I was left wanting much more, I am nonetheless grateful to have this glimpse into the Apollo pilot that none of us knew well. Congratulations to Francis French for bringing this memoir to our attention and for editing it with such a light touch.
July 12, 2019
You know how you're sometimes glad after meeting interesting person, and maybe even regret it hasn't happen sooner? This is it! Except, if it wasn't for this interesting person, a lot of it, of historical magnitude, probably wouldn't happen. I like to think every one of us has purpose, and it's a delight when it manifests in such bucketloads in someone's life.
I have to say this piece of trivia. As for the "forgotten Apollo" mission... Apollo 7 is actually the one i remember the best. Because of trivial fact. In my language, "Apollo 7" vaguely sounds like "at 6:30" (u pol 7). So it became kind of familiar joke, when my auditory challenged grandmother, watching the report of Apollo 7 mission on television, excitedly informed the rest of the family about it: "Did you hear? They arrived, at 6:30!".
I have to say this piece of trivia. As for the "forgotten Apollo" mission... Apollo 7 is actually the one i remember the best. Because of trivial fact. In my language, "Apollo 7" vaguely sounds like "at 6:30" (u pol 7). So it became kind of familiar joke, when my auditory challenged grandmother, watching the report of Apollo 7 mission on television, excitedly informed the rest of the family about it: "Did you hear? They arrived, at 6:30!".
May 23, 2017
This book is not nearly as thorough as I would like and leaves out numerous details, but I still appreciated gaining Donn Eisele's perspective of his selection into the astronaut corps, his criticism of NASA management in the wake of the Apollo 1 fire, and the Apollo 7 flight that he made the following year. If he had lived longer, he might have added some additional thoughts. Yet he died of a heart attack during a 1987 trip to Japan and we are left with this brief manuscript he compiled before his passing.
January 4, 2020
Apollo Pilot is a first-hand account of the important, but often overlooked mission of Apollo 7.
October 17, 2021
This is an amazing inside account of what it was like to live life as an Apollo astronaut. Published posthumously from Eisele’s personal memoirs and about as candid as anyone can be, from his feelings towards his fellow astronauts, to his criticism of NASA’s procedures and policies, this book is an intimate dive into the inner workings of NASA and the Apollo Program as seen through the eyes of someone who lost good friends in the Apollo 1 fire, and then went up in the very next flight. Apollo 7 would also sadly be Eisele’s last flight as the crew was (probably) grounded for insubordination during reentry. Mission Commander Wally Schirra didn’t care because he intended to retire anyway after they landed. But Eisele and Cunningham never flew to space again. Tragically, Eisele died at 57 from a heart attack while on a business trip to Tokyo.
November 16, 2017
The (quite literal) first draft of history, as told colloquially by the Apollo program's black sheep. It focuses primarily on his career up to the Apollo 7 mission, though his widow adds background on the extramarital affair with her which effectively grounded him afterwards and its aftermath. What I read on Eisele painted him to be a real asshole, and while his account doesn't entirely exonerate him from that charge, it does humanize him and paints him as someone with a catty sense of humor but also a strict commitment to his mission.
March 15, 2018
Great Book
This book was about one of the more unpopular Astronauts, that played a significant role in the Apollo Program. He along with his crew mates proved Apollo could fly men to the moon.
This book was about one of the more unpopular Astronauts, that played a significant role in the Apollo Program. He along with his crew mates proved Apollo could fly men to the moon.
May 23, 2018
A forthright and honest account, and of all the Apollo memoirs, probably the most frank. While these memoirs were left incomplete, they have been fashioned into a cohesive work quite well.
November 11, 2018
Short, but refreshingly candid - unlike many of the astronaut memoirs.
June 23, 2019
This is an interesting look at how a memoir could look if someone didn't hold back.
June 6, 2020
This is a very good memoir that was never and will never be complete unfortunately.
It is really great reading about one of NASA's "forgotten astronaut".
It is really great reading about one of NASA's "forgotten astronaut".
December 25, 2020
Really enjoyable account of the mission. A discovered manuscript delivering the feeling of camaraderie between the 3 astronauts.
February 6, 2017
Apollo Pilot: The Memoir of Astronaut Donn Eisele
: Donn Eisele
I love to learn more of the early space exploration from the perspective of those who were there. I live 30 miles from Cosmosphere Space Museum, and after listening to this makes me want to visit to see what more I can learn.
The narration was well done. Kevin Pierce is a delight to listen to read. A wonderful way to pass a cold winter day.
"I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator."
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews