Comes with a hand-signed Certificate of Authenticity

Type: Original NASA Apollo Program Command Service Module (CSM) Blueprint

Date: 1971 (preparation period for Apollo 16 & Apollo 17 missions)

Size: 18×23 inches

Use: Working engineering document used by NASA engineers and contractors for design modifications and mission improvements to the Apollo CSM

Program Significance: Directly tied to the 10th crewed Apollo mission and 5th lunar landing (Apollo 16, April 1972)

Mission Relevance: Blueprint reflects changes from earlier Apollo flights, including upgraded power distribution, enhanced redundancy after Apollo 13, environmental control refinements, and adaptations for extended lunar surface stays with the Lunar Rover. This drawing specifically features the RCA Command Module television camera system, which allowed engineers to plan and integrate live video relay for astronaut activities in lunar orbit and deep space.

Associated Missions: Apollo 16 (“Casper” CSM, crewed by John Young, Charles Duke, Ken Mattingly) and Apollo 17, the final Apollo lunar landing

Condition: Museum-grade, authentic NASA artifact with clear technical linework and original 1971 date

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. One such improvement was the integration of the RCA television camera system in the Command Module. This equipment allowed Ken Mattingly, orbiting in Casper, to broadcast live video of operations in deep space, including his historic EVA on April 25, 1972. From these transmissions, the public and mission controllers witnessed Mattingly retrieve film canisters from the Service Module’s SIM bay—an event that highlighted the CSM’s role as both spacecraft and science platform. The RCA camera also gave engineers and scientists a real-time look at crew activities and provided visual diagnostics during critical mission phases.

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 blueprint-driven refinements like these. The command module “Casper” received upgraded guidance systems for better precision in lunar orbit, improved oxygen and cooling systems for reliability, redesigned power distribution, and integrated visual documentation tools. This blueprint shows part of the system that helped bring the mission home in both data and imagery, cementing its legacy.

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.

RCA Apollo Command Module TV Camera: Blueprint of the System That Brought Space to Earth:

NASA set the first specifications for television aboard the Apollo Command Module in 1962. Both analog and digital systems were considered, but early digital technology demanded too much bandwidth—about 20 MHz compared to just 500 kHz for an analog signal. NASA chose an analog slow-scan television (SSTV) system and awarded RCA the contract to build the camera.

The standard provided a black-and-white picture with 320 active scan lines at just 10 frames per second. While far below the 30 fps of commercial NTSC television, this was judged adequate since astronauts would move slowly in orbit and on the lunar surface. To make the images viewable on ordinary televisions, NASA relied on an RCA-built scan converter.

When the camera transmitted, ground stations received the raw SSTV signal and split it in two: one copy was recorded directly to magnetic tape for preservation, while the other was processed through the scan converter. The converter displayed the SSTV image on a special monitor with persistent phosphors, and a standard RCA broadcast camera re-filmed the screen at 30 fps with 525 interlaced lines. This re-imaged signal was then encoded into NTSC format and relayed to Houston, and from there broadcast to homes worldwide.

Though effective, the process degraded image quality. The optical re-filming reduced contrast and clarity, and the long analog transmission chain further introduced noise. Still, this system enabled millions of people to watch live broadcasts from space—including Apollo 7, 8, 9, and 11—marking some of the most historic television moments in history.

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)