Comes with a hand-signed Certificate of Authenticity

This museum-grade original NASA Apollo Program artifact is an original Apollo Command Service Module (CSM) blueprint dated 1971 and was used by NASA engineers for changes and modifications for the upcoming 10th crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program and the 5th lunar landing of the Apollo Program.

Apollo 16, flown from April 16–27, 1972, was the tenth crewed mission, and the second of Apollo’s advanced “J missions.” These flights marked a new phase in lunar exploration. They were longer, more ambitious, and designed with science at the forefront. This Apollo Program CSM blueprint represents one of the very NASA documents consulted daily by spacecraft engineers, systems specialists, and mission planners to implement the engineering improvements that made Apollo 16 not only possible but historically significant.

The Apollo Command and Service Module was the heart of the Apollo spacecraft system. It carried astronauts to the Moon, sustained them in orbit, and brought them safely home. By 1971, NASA engineers at North American Rockwell and flight planners at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston had already logged the successes—and the close calls—of earlier missions. These blueprints were used at drafting tables, design review boards, and integration meetings to chart out critical changes. Apollo 13’s near disaster made it clear that redundancy and power management were not optional. Engineers worked directly from blueprint sets like this one to reroute electrical systems, improve fault tolerance, and harden environmental controls. Apollo 15, the first of the J missions, introduced the Lunar Rover, but engineers quickly saw how its addition strained communications and power loads. The 1971 CSM updates reflected solutions to these problems, ensuring that Apollo 16 could push farther without compromising safety.

For Apollo 16, the astronauts—Commander John Young, Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke, and Command Module Pilot Ken Mattingly—depended on these blueprint-driven refinements. The command module “Casper” received upgraded guidance systems for better precision in lunar orbit, improved oxygen and cooling systems for reliability, and redesigned power distribution that allowed Mattingly to conduct orbital experiments while supporting Young and Duke’s extended stay on the lunar surface. The Descartes Highlands, their landing site, had been chosen because many believed it was volcanic in origin. Thanks to the mission, it was revealed instead to be shaped by ancient impacts, rewriting scientific understanding of the Moon.

These upgrades were drawn, revised, and signed into reality on blueprints like this. Engineers used them to test load paths, calculate thermal tolerances, and lay out wiring modifications. Technicians at Kennedy Space Center worked from them while installing new components. Flight controllers studied them to anticipate potential failure points. In short, the blueprint was the working foundation that linked design rooms, assembly floors, and mission control consoles.

The legacy carried beyond Apollo 16. The same series of modifications informed Apollo 17, the final Apollo lunar landing, flown in December 1972. These improvements allowed Gene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ron Evans to carry out the most scientifically intensive lunar exploration in history. In this sense, the 1971 blueprint ties directly to both penultimate and final steps of humanity’s greatest venture to the Moon.

In many ways, Apollo 16 was the pinnacle of lunar science missions. The blueprint that contributed to its success is not simply a piece of paper. It is a physical link to the engineers who debated and refined every line, to the astronauts who trusted those changes with their lives, and to the broader story of how Apollo evolved from daring first steps to world-changing science.

Pre-Launch and Launch (April 16, 1972)

Earth Orbit Phase

Translunar Coast (April 16–19, 1972)

Lunar Orbit Insertion (April 19, 1972)

Lunar Module Separation and CSM Operations (April 20–23, 1972)

Rendezvous and Docking (April 23, 1972)

Trans-Earth Injection (April 24, 1972)

Transearth Coast (April 24–27, 1972)

Reentry and Splashdown (April 27, 1972)