Flag Kits & Official Flight Kits [OFKs]

As with the personal items carried by the astronauts in their PPKs, NASA too had items carried on board the Apollo missions. These flown mementos - usually small flags - were intended for use in presentations to those involved in the space program, as well as to US and foreign dignitaries.

Very little information is available regarding how much material was flown by NASA on each mission, but below I have gathered together all available references to flag kits and Official Flight Kits (OFKs) from the stowage lists and press kits of Apollo 11 through 17, with an additional entry from Apollo 7 discovered more recently.

Apollo 7

The Apollo 7 flag kit is is not mentioned in the Press Kit, but is explicitly listed in the Stowage List.

Note that this is sigfnificantly heavier than flag kits mentioned on later Apollo flights.

Apollo 11

I have not seen any reference to an OFK or flag kit in the Apollo 11 stowage lists, but then the lunar surface flag is not listed either. The flag kit is detailed in the Press Kit as follows:

It is not possible to tell from this where the flags were carried, whether on the Lunar Module or on the Command Module, but since all subsequent flights (prior to Apollo 17) carried the flag kit in the LM it seems likely that this was also done with Apollo 11.

Apollo 12

The Apollo 12 flag kit is detailed in the Press Kit as follows:

The flag kit is also explicitly listed in the Stowage List, installed at launch time in the Lunar Module, and transferred back to the CM after the landing.

Note that the kit itself is stored inside a regular PPK bag which is itemised separately. In later flights PPK bags were occasionally used to carry other equipment but these are not really PPK items.

Apollo 13

The Apollo 13 flag kit is detailed in the Press Kit as follows:

The flag kit is also explicitly listed in the Stowage List, installed at launch time in the Lunar Module.

Apollo 14

The Apollo 14 flag kit is detailed in the Press Kit as follows:

The flag kit is also explicitly listed in the Stowage List, installed at launch time in the Lunar Module.

Apollo 15

The Apollo 15 flag kit is detailed in the Press Kit as follows:

The flag kit is also explicitly listed in the Stowage List, installed at launch time in the Lunar Module.

Although the LM PPK was accidentally left behind on the Lunar Module during the mission we do not know if the flag kit shared its fate. Irwin does not explicitly mention the flag kit in his description of the incident.

Apollo 16

The Apollo 16 flag kit is detailed in the Press Kit as follows:

In a break from previous flights, Apollo 16 has two flag kits explicitly listed in the Stowage List, one installed at launch time in the Lunar Module as before and a second kit installed in the Command Module.

For whatever reason, NASA decided to carry a complete second flag kit on Apollo 16 but in the Command Module rather than the Lunar Module.

Apollo 17

The Apollo 17 flag kit is not mentioned in the Press Kit but the rules on flown mementos had been changed for Apollo 17 with the introduction of the Official Flight Kit (weighing-in at 13.5lb / 6.1kg) which was intended to contain all NASA souvenirs (including flags). Unlike all prior lunar landing missions, Apollo 17 did not carry a flag kit in the lunar module and the OFK is noted as being stowed in the Command Module, without being transferred at any stage to the Lunar Module.

With the Apollo program coming to an end, NASA took advantage of the last lunar mission to fly a significantly larger number of miniature souvenir flags for use in future presentations than on any previous mission. Research by Larry McGlynn and Richard Jurek indicates that around 2,000 miniature (4x6") U.S. flags were carried in the Apollo 17 OFK, this compared to around 25 on each previous mission.