The Manned Spacecraft Center published a detailed flight plan, and the assumption was made that the mission would be nominal, with any required changes being made by the flight director.

Scheduled experiments, observations, and studies would be conducted in a manner that would not conflict with the operational requirements. Due to the extended duration of the flight, an 8-hour sleep period was programed, with a 2-hour option factor as to when the astronaut would begin his rest period. This time came well within the middle phases of the planned flight and would allow the astronaut ample opportunity to be in an alert state before retro-sequence. In addition to the general guidelines, the astronaut had practically a minute-to-minute series of tasks to accomplish.