Highly desirable Manned Spacecraft Center internal note entitled "Project Apollo: Preliminary Mission Profile for AS-503A, MSC Internal Note No. 65-FM-160," marked "Unclassified," prepared by Ronald L. Berry of the Mission Analysis Branch, 8.5 x 11, 69 pages, dated November 4, 1965. The report indicates that "Mission AS 503A is the first manned flight to be performed with the Saturn V booster and is expected to be the final test prior to the initial lunar landing," and describes AS 503A (later known as Apollo 8) as "a manned earth orbital simulation of the lunar landing mission." The spacecraft was to be composed of a Block II Command and Service Module (CSM 102) and Lunar Excursion Module (LEM-3). The report provides a detailed summary of the daily activities to be undertaken during the nine-day mission, and includes a number of significant charts, tables, and diagrams. In fine condition, with light overall wear to covers.
Originally planned as described here—as a crewed Apollo Lunar Module and Command Module test in Earth orbit—the mission profile of Apollo 8 was changed in August 1968 to a more ambitious Command-Module-only lunar orbital flight, as the Lunar Module was not yet ready. It served as the first test—rather than the final one—of the Apollo spacecraft prior to the initial lunar landings on Apollo 11. A fantastic, early report on what would become Apollo 8.
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