Brad-bound official NASA manual for the Apollo 8 mission entitled "Mission D Flight Plan, AS-503/CSM-103/LM-3," 261 pages, 8 x 10.5, dated July 3, 1968, prepared by the Flight Planning Branch, Flight Crew Support Division at the Manned Spacecraft Center. The manual is comprised of five sections: General, Communications Timeline, Detailed Timeline, Detailed Test Objectives, and Consumables Analysis. In very good to fine condition, with light foxing to the front cover. Originates from the personal collection of Jack Stone, a Lockheed Electronics programmer who worked on the Consumable Analysis Team during the Apollo missions.
The identification on the front cover, which ends with “LM-3,” indicates that this flight plan is a particularly early example. The Apollo 8 mission was initially intended to test the LM-3 in low Earth orbit as part of the first crewed flight of a lunar module, but the plan was canceled last minute when engineers determined that the spacecraft was still not ready. The recourse for Apollo 8 was then to use the CSM-103 to make the first manned lunar orbit, a decision some believe was urged by President Lyndon B. Johnson, who hoped to witness the first lunar flyby before leaving office. The crew of Apollo 8 orbited the moon 10 times in late December of 1968, with the Apollo 9 mission successfully testing the CSM and LM some three months later.
