At the first launch the rocket was called ‘Gerkules’ (other sources say ‘Atlantis’), as indicated by the large symbol on the second stage skin. This name was however was not taken up. References: 2, 6, 67, 273, 274.

Total LEM	14,515 kg (32,000 lbs)
Ascent stage inert	2,193 kg (4,835 lbs)
Descent stage inert	2,166 kg (4,775 lbs)

Memorandum, James L. Neal, MSC, to GAEC, Attn: John C. Snedeker, References: 16.

• NASA announced that it had dropped plans for developing a small rover to be carried to the moon aboard soft-landing Surveyor spacecraft. This action, the space agency said, stemmed from a desire to concentrate on the development of the spacecraft per se and on its scientific instrumentation. References: 16.

• Apollo Manned Flying System Nation: USA. Program: Apollo. Spacecraft: MFS. Bell Aerosystems Company announced that it had received additional funds from NASA (almost a half million dollars) to continue work on another lunar vehicle, the so-called Manned Flying System. This latter craft, also primarily a tool for exploration, would be able to transport an astronaut and about 136 kg (300 lbs) of equipment (or two astronauts) for distances up to 24 km (15 mi) from the original landing site.

• That the PHS had responsibility for the health of the nation and for any potential threat to that health from extraterrestrial life, particularly from back contamination.
• That the Office of the Surgeon General, PHS, would submit to the NASA Administrator a proposal for action deemed necessary.
• That the Department of Agriculture had a similar responsibility for the nation's crops and animals of economic importance and that the Department of Agriculture would probably accept arrangements made by PHS, and be brought into the matter at the point they considered action to be necessary.

1. Preliminary Design Review (PDR)
2. Critical Design Review (CDR)
3. Flight Article Configuration Inspection (FACI)
4. Certification of Flight Worthiness (COFR)
5. Design Certification Review (DCR)
6. Flight Readiness Review (FRR)

With this flight, the US finally took the manned spaceflight endurance record from Russia, while demonstrating that the crew could survive in zero gravity for the length of time required for a lunar mission. However the mission was incredibly boring, the spacecraft just drifting to conserve fuel most of the time, and was 'just about the hardest thing I've ever done' according to a hyperactive Pete Conrad. An accident with freeze dried shrimp resulted in the cabin being filled with little pink subsatellites. References: 2, 6, 16, 26, 33,60.