10 years MoonwatchUniverse... Bulk info release, podcasts & exhibition

Spaceflight aficionado and Omega Speedmaster fan since 1972, I only bought my first Speedmaster in 1994 as it was the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and the Omega Speedmaster was available with a display caseback so the impressive 861 movement could be admired. This Speedmaster only needed a service after 22 years as it couldn't be winded by 2016...
Getting the chronograph & replaced pieces back after an Omega service, I decided to share in the excitement for the upcoming 60th anniversary of the Omega Speedmaster in 2017. Being a vivid astrophotographer, I decide to use the name MoonwatchUniverse for a Tumbler photoblog... start up in July 2016...
The aim was to share my personal collection of time period spaceflight related photographs collected between 1972 and 1992 by writing letters to both NASA headquarters, NASA centers and the StarCity cosmonaut training center in Moscow. This 45 years old collection was reduced to 500 photographs which clearly showed the wrist watches used by astronauts, cosmonauts, mission & payload specialists during training and actual spaceflight.
During a visit to the OMEGA Museum, I met the museum director and I got fascinated by the red outer cases of the 1969 OMEGA Alaska Project. At home I started to check my photo collection, which lead to the Soyuz 25 and 26 walkout color photos showing the Soviet-Russian crews wearing these ex-Alaska II outer cases on their Sokol spacesuit for missions to the Salyut-6 space station in late 1977. A fascinating fact to discover that OMEGA’s ultimate space watch, developed for NASA, found enthusiastic customers on the other side of the Iron Curtain.
Since 1999, as a watch enthusiast I have written a dozen articles on spacefarers' wirstwatches, ranging from the Omega Speedmaster over the Seiko digital alarm chronograph to the Accutron Bulova wrist watches. As Omega has its own program on releasing information, I started to contact astronauts and cosmonauts about their personal watches used & worn in space and my interests turned to other pilot wristwatches (Rolex, Fortis, etc...).
After three years the blog has been discovered by 900 followers and it got the attention of some remarkable people, among whom I was glad to meet in person several Omega Forum members, a few astronauts and some watch makes...
Are You planning an article, event or GTG and would like to use my spacefarers' wristwatches slideshow as a nice background distraction, don't hesitate to contact me...

https://www.watchbooksonly.com/omeg...views/12-questions-only-to-moonwatchuniverse/
and
https://moonwatchuniverse.tumblr.com/archive

The month of July is almost upon us with the highlight of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moonlanding...
MWU will focus on Edwin Eugene Buzz Aldrin as Omega centered the design of steel "Metal Magic" 50th A11 Speedmaster on the first Omega on the Moon worn by Apollo 11 LMP - Lunar Module Pilot...
Some will have noticed my avatar has changed... containing an important message... something we might hear about soon... I hope so anyway...
Here are some teasers for the upcoming month July 2019... afterwards it will be downhill I suppose...
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Preflight press conference NASA-MSC, May 14, 1969

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Preflight press conference NASA-JSC July 5, 1969

Still ever the dashing devil some 50 years later...

This month we'll be inundated by articles & social media stuff (videos & photos) on spaceflight wristwatches... so be it.
In this topic I would like to share one of the first articles I ever found about wristwatches used in spaceflight missions. At that time I was almost 30 years young and planned to buy my first Omega Speedmaster so exciting to read such an article... which triggered me to start writing as well !
It's very basic and mentioned the Omega Speedmaster chronographs worn by Mercury astronauts Walter Schirra (October 1962) and Gordon Cooper (May 1963), without the crucial information that these CK-2998-4 were personal wristwatches. Interesting is the fact that at the time of the article ( January 1992 ) both astronauts still had the Omega watches but Cooper swapped his Accutron Astronaut for a flown Strela "Arrow" chronograph of cosmonaut Pavel Belyayev...
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Flashback...
Before the internet days a watch fan noticed a particular wristwatch showing up aboard space shuttle missions ? Which make was it ?
Easiest thing to do was to write a letter to a magazine asking a question about the specific make of a silver dual read-out digital wrist watch used aboard STS-51D and STS-61B... And a few months later, lo and behold get an answer from an astronaut, in this example mission/payload specialist Charles "Charlie" Walker, who flew on three space shuttle missions and was a keen scuba diver as well... 👍
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Top 3 memories/occurrences of 3 years MoonwatchUniverse...
3. Instagram discussion with Omega on wearing wristwatches underneath a spacesuit, which I fully proved & closed my Instagram...
2. Pointing out some Soviet-Russian crew photographs with the cosmonauts clearly wearing Alaska II Project Speedmaster time pieces...
1. Interest, appreciation & gratitude of fellow spaceflight & watch aficionados... the joy of giving free entertaining lectures while accomplishing a dozen articles on spacefarers' wristwatches... all on a 100% voluntary/unpaid basis

2001 - Wristwatches used on the Space Shuttle program: 20 years STS
2017 - Speedmaster for Space: 55 years First Omega In Space
2018 - To Russia With Love: Omega Alaska Project on the other side of the Iron Curtain
2019 - Shake, Rattle & Rolex: celebrating 100 years Rolex in Switzerland with an overview of Rolex in spaceflight
2019 - Marking Time for Cosmonauts: 25 years FORTIS in Russian manned spaceflight missions

Wristwatches worn on NASA spaceflight program as I see it... 1962 to 1972
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Mercury program
1962 MA-6 John Glenn wore a Heuer 2915 stopwatch strapped on his right forearm (R)
1962 MA-7 Scott Carpenter wore a Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute chronograph with 24 hours dial at left wrist (L)
1962 MA-8 Walter Schirra wore his personal Omega Speedmaster CK2998-4 on his left wrist (L)
1963 MA-9 Gordon Cooper wore his personal Omega Speedmaster CK2998-4 on his left (L) & his Accutron Astronaut watch at right wrist (R)

Gemini program
1965 Gemini III Gus Grissom L= Speedmaster R= Accutron Astronaut + John Young L= Accutron Astronaut R= Speedmaster
1965 Gemini IV Ed White L= two Speedmaster 105.003-64 + Jim McDivitt L= Speedmaster R= Speedmaster
1965 Gemini V Gordon Cooper L= Speedmaster + Pete Conrad R= Speedmaster & Glycine Airman
1965 Gemini VII Frank Borman L= Speedmaster + James Lovell R= Speedmaster
1965 Gemini VI Walter Schirra L= Speedmaster + Tom Stafford L= Speedmaster R= Speedmaster
1966 Gemini VIII Neil Armstrong L= Speedmaster R= Longines Wittnauer Weems + David Scott L= Speedmaster
1966 Gemini IX Tom Stafford L= Speedmaster + Eugene Cernan L= Speedmaster
1966 Gemini X John Young L= Speedmaster + Michael Collins none ? ( R= Speedmaster underneath spacesuit )
1966 Gemini XI Pete Conrad L= Speedmaster R= Glycine Airman + Richard Gordon R= Speedmaster
1966 Gemini XII James Lovell R= Speedmaster + Edwin Aldrin R= Speedmaster


Apollo program
1967 Apollo 1 Gus Grissom , Edward White , Roger Chaffee L= Speedmaster
1968 Apollo 7
Walter Schirra L= Speedmaster
Donn Eisele L= Speedmaster R= Speedmaster
Walter Cunningham L= Speedmaster
1968 Apollo 8
Frank Borman L= Speedmaster
James Lovell R= Speedmaster
William Anders L= Speedmaster
1969 Apollo 9
Jim McDivitt , David Scott , Russell Schweickaert L= Speedmaster
1969 Apollo 10
Tom Stafford L= Speedmaster
John Young L= Speedmaster ( L underneath spacesuit Speedmaster on JB Champion )
Eugene Cernan L= Speedmaster ( L underneath spacesuit Speedmaster on JB Champion )
1969 Apollo 11
Neil Armstrong R= Speedmaster
Edwin Aldrin L= Speedmaster
Michael Collins R = Speedmaster
1969 Apollo 12
Pete Conrad L= Speedmaster
Alan Bean L= Speedmaster
Richard Gordon L= Speedmaster ( R underneath spacesuit Speedmaster on JB Champion )
1970 Apollo 13
James Lovell R= Speedmaster
Fred Haise L= Speedmaster
Jack Swigert L= Speedmaster ( L underneath spacesuit Rolex GMT-master 1675 Pepsi )
1971 Apollo 14
Alan Shepard L= Speedmaster
Edgar Mitchell L= Speedmaster ( L + R underneath spacesuit Rolex GMT-master 1675 + 1675/3 )
Stu Roosa L= Speedmaster ( L underneath spacesuit Rolex GMT-master 1675 Pepsi )
1971 Apollo 15
David Scott L= Speedmaster ( PPK contained Bulova 88510 chronograph worn on the Moon )
James Irwin L = Speedmaster
Alfred Worden L= Speedmaster
1972 Apollo 16
John Young L= Speedmaster
Charles Duke L= Speedmaster ( L underneath spacesuit Speedmaster )
Thomas Mattingly L= Speedmaster
1972 Apollo 17
Eugene Cernan L= Speedmaster ( L underneath spacesuit Speedmaster on JB Champion )
Harrison Schmitt L= Speedmaster
Ron Evans L= Speedmaster ( L underneath spacesuit personal Speedmaster 145.022 )
( PPK contained Rolex GMT-master Pepsi 1675 carried to the Moon )

A friendly cooperation with Revolution.watch :
https://www.revolution.watch/what-w...before-the-speedmasters-flight-qualification/

Well this is interesting.

@SpeedyPhill did you get a preview of the article to read over before this was published? Just curious why the picture leading off the article is mine yet credited to you. Not only that the caption under it is incorrect or at the very least misleading.

I work closely with the signers for my collection building trust and ensuring them that their pieces are portrayed accurately and with their approval. This reflects poorly on me possibly jeopardizing future collaborations with signers and it is not appreciated.

What can be done to address this?

@TLIGuy
I pointed out that photo to the author at Revolution Watch as additional acknowledgement that the NASA qualification of the Speedmaster dates from June 1, 1965 and not March 1965 as in the first proof-reading of the initial text…
I didn't ask nor gave permission to use that photo, moreover the caption is incorrect, and this photo was never posted on MoonwatchUniverse 😉

Edit: that photo will be removed !

No problem Philip I’ll contact them directly.

So after the article was published you didn’t take issue with them and follow up on the incorrect crediting since you point out above the picture never appeared on your site and you just let it go uncorrected.

I hope those of you that have followed my contributions over the years continue to find my past contributions enjoyable and look for my continued work where it is shared.

TLIGuy (AKA space nerd) courtesy of @tyrantlizardrex signing off.

Good it wasn't published in a hard copie magazine... it was only destined for an online article and I didn't get a preview and only found it untill I searched for it online... Indeed copyrights are important and that's why I only use my own & NASA photos.
📖
Furthermore, currently researching the role of Hans Widmer in contacting Russian cosmonauts in the early 1970s, after which cosmonauts started to visit Omega HQ in Bienne; Aleksei Yeliseyev (1973), ASTP crews (1976), Yuri Glazkov (1977)... leading up to several things, such as the use of the Omega Flightmaster (Soyuz 14 - 1974 and Soyuz 21 - 1976) and the Speedmaster Mark III ( Soyuz 15 - 1974, Soyuz 14 - 1977,...) on half-a-dozen Soviet-Russian missions.
culminating to the Alaska II Project being used on the other side of the iron curtain by Soyuz 25 & 26 crews in autumn of 1977...

@SpeedyPhill this is my last word here on the subject.

So you provide the author of the article with pictures and information for the article as well as providing him your name to appear in print for credit and you were unaware the article was out there and only found out about it when you searched for it on line. Sorry, not buying it. Also, when I did bring it up you contacted the author and within a few minutes the picture was removed. I contacted him and he replied in a few minutes as well. I believe you could have corrected the credit once you saw it pretty quickly if you cared to.

Regarding your “my own” pictures, I believe the pictures you post all originated somewhere other than you, so no, they are not your pictures. You may have been the first to scan and post them but they are technically not your images and in many instances you post them without the proper credit they are due.

For someone that posts quite a bit about how great things would be if no one cared about the credit you seem to crave being recognized and receiving credit.

LOL... In reality, I just corrected some errors in the proof-reading & provided some input to the author of the piece, who used all the photos and credited all photos "MoonwatchUniverse/Archive" more then probably due to the fact he hadn't a clue about the correct source or credit...
Meanwhile it looks like the photo is used again 😕 but the others are credited NASA & Zvezda as they should be... End-of-Story!

Thanks for the clarification. Good to know that “A friendly collaboration with Revolution Watch” was....

For those who asked why MoonwatchUniverse instagram was deleted… too volatile, rather work on something substantial.
More news soon...

Recently talked to Apollo 15 CMP Alfred Worden... about wristwatches and flying to the Moon.
Exciting & interesting stuff about the 60 minutes bezel on his 1969 NASA Speedmaster, and meanwhile got some artwork prints and NASA photo signed...
😉
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Entering my 20 years old Speedmaster into service with Omega, lead to the MoonwatchUniverse blog and contacts with the Omega heritage & museum team in Bienne... 40 months later my passionate work was noticed by the community and I'm very glad it culminated in something substantial coming to fruition... a big thanks to the OmegaForums.net community !