NASA honors Apollo astronaut Donn Eisele

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- The late U.S. astronaut Donn Eisele is to be honored with an "Ambassador of Exploration Award" for his work in the nation's space program.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will honor the late Air Force colonel by presenting the award to his widow, Susan Eisele-Black, during a Tuesday ceremony in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Eisele-Black selected the Broward County Library as the presentation site.

NASA is awarding Ambassador of Exploration awards to the first generation of explorers in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs for realizing America's vision of going to the moon.

The award is a moon rock encased in Lucite and mounted for public display. The moon rocks used for the awards are part of 842 pounds of samples collected during the six Apollo lunar expeditions from 1969 to 1972.

In 1968, Eisele was the command module pilot for the 11-day flight of Apollo VII with fellow astronauts Walter Schirra Jr. and Walter Cunningham. Cunningham is expected to attend Tuesday's ceremony, NASA said.