Incredible staple-bound NASA manual entitled “Final, Apollo 11 Flight Plan, AS-506/CSM-107/LM-5,” 294 pages, 8 x 10.5, dated July 1, 1969, signed on the front cover in ballpoint and felt tip by Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Deke Slayton, Christopher Kraft, Max Faget, and eight other members of Mission Control, including: George Mueller, George Abbey, Kenneth Kleinknecht, Charles Berry, Robert ‘Ed’ Smylie, Robert Gilruth, Richard Johnston, and Richard Underwood. The back of the last page features a handwritten provenance statement in blue ballpoint by Skylab astronaut and Apollo 13 CAPCOM Joe Kerwin, which reads: “This copy of the Apollo 11 flight plan was used by the crew to study late changes. It was taken by me from KSC crew quarters on 16 July 1969. The autographs on the cover were obtained in the Houston Mission Operations Control Center just after Apollo 11 splashdown, with the exception of Neil Armstrong’s (he signed a few weeks later).” The front cover of the manual is marked in the upper right corner, “Onboard Data Markup Copy,” with the manual also featuring several paper-clipped sections and a variety of pencil annotations by an unknown hand. In very good to fine condition, with handling wear and expected signs of use.
Accompanied by a signed letter of provenance from Kerwin, who writes, in part: “On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 launched from the Pad 39A on its voyage to the Moon. I was at the Cape to take advantage of an open date in the Apollo Mission Simulator…After watching the launch from the roof, I came back to the crew quarters to pick up my suit bag. Passing an alcove with a conference table, I spotted a document lying open. It was a copy of the Flight Plan, Final Edition…pretty well annotated and paper-clipped. A penciled note on the cover says, ‘Onboard Data Markup Copy.’ I took it with me to my training session and then home to Houston. And I was in Mission Control for the final splashdown. When the cheers broke out and the cigars were being lit, I left from the visitors area, walked down into the room and got as many signatures as I could from the Flight Control team and the managers…A few weeks later, after he got out of quarantine, I asked Neil to sign it and he did.” Final flight plans for the Apollo 11 mission are already quite desirable amongst collectors, with this particular example, used and annotated by KSC personnel and signed by history’s first moonwalker, undeniably among the very finest examples extant.
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