Who Could Ever Compete With The Moon? The True Stories Of The Astronaut Wives Club

The Majority Of Marriages Ended In Divorce

Photo by J. Emilio Flores/Getty Images

Despite NASA’s best efforts to maintain the illusion that the astronauts were clean-cut one-woman men, the majority of marriages ended in divorce due to infidelity. Most of the Mercury Seven would eventually split, and it was the same with other wives of different astronauts of the time.

Harriet and Donn Eisele, the command pilot of Apollo 7, divorced when Donn had confessed to seeing another woman. At first, he denied Harriet’s accusations, calling her crazy. When she offered to see a therapist, he replied, “You can’t, I’ll lose my job.” The couple divorced, which led to Donn being fired anyway.