Donn Fulton Eisele, born June 23, 1930, went into space only once aboard Apollo 7. He traveled with fellow astronauts Wally Schirra and Walt Cunningham. The mission was to test the spacecraft's ability to travel to the moon, since modifications had been made to the capsule after the Apollo 1 tragedy the year before.
The mission was a success but during the flight, Wally Schirra developed a head cold. In space, without the pull of gravity, one's sinuses cannot drain as they do on Earth, thus Schirra became irritable. Eisele contracted the same head cold and Cunningham might have to (or not, depending upon which story you listen to). Upon re-entry, NASA demanded the crew wear their helmets but Schirra said they would not be able to clear their congestion and their ear drums might burst.
Schirra made the final decision not to wear helmets and the crew landed safely, but none of them went into space after that.
Eisele died of a heart attack in December 1987 during a business trip to Tokyo.
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