Background
Donald Kent Slayton was born on March 1, 1924 in Sparta, Wisconsin, United States, into the family of Charles Sherman and Victoria Adelia (Larson) Slayton.
Donald Kent Slayton was born on March 1, 1924 in Sparta, Wisconsin, United States, into the family of Charles Sherman and Victoria Adelia (Larson) Slayton.
Donald attended elementary school in Leon, Wisconsin, and graduated from Sparta High School in 1942. After the war, Slayton graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Minnesota, in 1949. In 1960 Deke received Doctor of Science (honorary) at Carthage College, and then earned Doctor of Engineering (honorary) at Michigan Technology Institute in 1965.
Joining the Army Air Corps (the predecessor of the U.S. Air Force) in 1942, he was trained as a bomber pilot, and flew fifty-six combat missions over Europe. Then he himself became a trainer of bomber pilots, before flying seven more missions, this time over Japan.
After the war, Slayton went to work for Boeing. But the Korean War was on the horizon, and during that conflict, Slayton, as an activated member of the Air National Guard, flew fighter missions as a squadron commander. After Korea, Slayton became a test pilot at Edwards Air Force base in California — a center of what journalist Tom Wolfe, in "The Right Stuff", would call “pushing the envelope.” Chosen by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to be one of the first seven U.S. astronauts in 1959, Slayton, with his cohorts, underwent the grueling psychological and Physical training regimen that prepared them for the unforeseen conditions of space flight. After the disappointment of being deleted from the list of active astronauts, Slayton was made director of NASA flight operations in 1963 and remained in that position till 1974. He had a major behind-the-scenes role in establishing a rotating crew roster for flights. His work as flight director has been immortalized in the film "Apollo 13."
Even at that time, however, Slayton was privately training his body to return to flight. All his tryings enabled him to qualify in 1971. The Apollo 18 flight came three years later, and was noted for its rendezvous with the Soviet spaceship Soyuz 19. The flight, which began July 15, 1975, lasted nine days, during two of which the two spacecraft were linked. Slayton, 51, was at that time the oldest man ever to fly in space. Although the mission was on the whole successful, a fuel leak during splashdown severely burned Slayton’s lungs.
Slayton retired from NASA in 1981, then became president of Space Services Inc., a company that developed rockets for small commercial space flights. The company was billed as the first privately financed space enterprise in the United States; it hoped to attract a variety of customers who wished to put satellites into orbit. In 1985 the company contracted with a group of Florida funeral homes to conduct burials in space; however, Space Services Inc. was abandoned by its major corporate investor in 1990. Slayton also served as vice president of the Mercury Foundation, an organization founded by six of the original astronauts and the widow of the seventh, Virgil I. Grissom, with the aim of raising money for science scholarships.
As an author, Slayton participated with his six Mercury colleagues in the creation of the 1962 book "We Seven", produced at the height of public enthusiasm for the space program. More than thirty years later, he and one of the original seven, Alan B. Shepard Jr., co-authored "Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America’s Race to the Moon", along with two experienced space journalists, Jay Barbree and Howard Benedict.
In 1992, Slayton was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. He died from the illness, at the age of 69, on June 13, 1993.
Society of Experimental Test Pilots
American Astronautical Society
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Experimental Aircraft Association
Space Pioneers
Confederate Air Force
Order of Daedalians
National Rifle Association of America
Veterans of Foreign Wars
Fraternal Order of Eagles
American Fighter Aces Association
National WWII Glider Pilots Association
Association of Space Explorers
Donald married Marjorie "Marge" Lunney on May 15, 1955, and they had one son, Kent Sherman, born on April 8, 1957. They eventually divorced, and Slayton later married Bobbie Belle Jones on October 8, 1983. They remained married until his death.