Donn F . Eisele Donn F . Eisele ( June 23 , 1930 – December 2 , 1987 ) was a United States Air Force test pilot and later a NASA astronaut . He occupied the command module pilot seat during the flight of Apollo 7 in 1968 . After retiring from both NASA and the Air Force , he became the Peace Corps country director for Thailand , before moving into private business . Education . Donn Fulton Eisele was born June 23 , 1930 in Columbus , Ohio , and graduated from West High School in 1948 . He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1952 and chose a commission in the United States Air Force ( the Air Force Academy was still under construction ) . Eisele received a Master of Science degree in Astronautics in 1960 from the Air Force Institute of Technology , Wright - Patterson AFB , Ohio . Career . Eisele was a project engineer and experimental test pilot at the Air Force Special Weapons Center at Kirtland AFB , New Mexico . He flew experimental test flights in support of special weapons development programs . He logged more than 4 , 200 hours flying time , 3 , 600 of which were in jet aircraft . NASA . Eisele was part of NASA ' s third group of astronauts , selected in October 1963 . In mid - 1966 , Eisele , Wally Schirra , and Walter Cunningham were announced as the crew for the second manned Apollo flight . But as the launch date approached , his participation and Schirra ' s was at risk ; this was due to rumors that Schirra was a " caretaker commander " who would be replaced by Deke Slayton once the latter received medical clearance , and due to Eisele ' s involvement in an extramarital affair with a woman who would later become his second wife . Slayton had warned the crew that they were all " expendable " , and that any extramarital affairs must not become public . Both Schirra and Eisele remained in the crew , and on October 11 , 1968 , Eisele occupied the Command Module Pilot seat for the 11 - day flight of Apollo 7 — the first manned flight test of the third generation United States spacecraft . Together with spacecraft Commander Schirra and Lunar Module Pilot Cunningham , Eisele participated in maneuvers that enabled the crew to perform exercises in transposition and docking and lunar orbit rendezvous with their Saturn IB launch vehicle . The crew completed eight successful test and maneuvering ignitions of the service module propulsion engine . They also measured the accuracy of performance of all spacecraft systems , and were part of the first live televised coverage of crew activities . Apollo 7 was placed in an Earth - orbit with an apogee of and perigee of . The 260 - hour , four - and - a - half million mile ( 7 . 25 Gm ) shakedown flight was successfully concluded on October 22 , 1968 , with splashdown occurring in the $ 3 , eight miles ( 15 km ) from the carrier " Essex " and only from the predicted target ) . Eisele logged 260 hours in space . Eisele served as backup command module pilot for the 1969 Apollo 10 flight . He was excluded from Apollo 13 because of his reluctance to interrupt their tests aboard Apollo 7 for public television coverage NASA requested , and for the extra - marital affair that had almost caused his replacement . Eisele resigned from the Astronaut Office in 1970 and became technical assistant for manned spaceflight at the NASA Langley Research Center , a position he occupied until retiring from both NASA and the Air Force in 1972 . Post - NASA career . In July 1972 , Eisele became Country Director of the U . S . Peace Corps in Thailand . Returning from Thailand two years later , he became Sales Manager for Marion Power Shovel , a division of Dresser Industries . Eisele then handled private and corporate accounts for the investment firm of Oppenheimer & Company . He also participated in the 1986 Concorde Comet Chase flights out of Miami and New York . Memberships . Eisele was an Eagle Scout , a member of Tau Beta Pi , and a Freemason , belonging to Luther B . Turner Lodge # 732 in Columbus , Ohio . Honors . Among the honors he received during his career were the NASA Exceptional Service Medal , the Air Force Senior Pilot Astronaut Wings , and the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross . He was a co - recipient of the AIAA 1969 Haley Astronautics Award and was presented the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Special Trustees Award in 1969 . In 2008 , NASA posthumously awarded Eisele the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for his Apollo 7 mission . Death and tributes . Eisele died at the age of 57 of a heart attack while on a 1987 business trip to Tokyo , Japan , where he was to attend the opening of a new Space Camp patterned on the one at the U . S . Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville , Alabama . He was survived by his wife Susan , their two children , and his four children from a previous marriage . Eisele was cremated in Japan , and his ashes were buried in Arlington National Cemetery . A family - approved account of Donn Eisele ' s life appears in the 2007 book " In the Shadow of the Moon " . In the 1998 miniseries " From the Earth to the Moon " , Eisele was portrayed by John Mese . Susan Eisele Black , on behalf of her late husband , donated a sample of a moon rock to Broward County Main Library on October 23 , 2007 . Broward County Library , located in Fort Lauderdale , Florida , is the only library in the United States to have a lunar rock on display . The moon rock is exhibited at science museums and schools .