85 years ago, another Swiss invention "Velcro" ... and NASA

85 years ago, Swiss engineer George de Mestral got the idea of sticking stuff together as he was annoyed that burrs/seeds stuck to his jacket.
Taking a look under the microscope to these seeds he discovered tiny hooks & loops, and bingo the idea for a quick & strong fastener was born!
In 1951, the hook-and-loop fastener idea, using nylon thread, was patented as Velcro a combination of Velours (Velvet) and Crochet (hook).
It soon got applications in the aerospace industry, even for SCUBA equipment... but when was it adopted by NASA?
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NASA saw great potential in Velcro for sticking items inside spacecraft as in near zero-gravity everything floats around but it took until June 1965 to see Velcro straps on the wrists of astronauts. During their orbital spaceflights, the "Mercury 7" astronauts Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra and Gordo Cooper used regular stretchy wrist bracelets and we saw the first use of the lightweight & breakable Forstner Komfit, later Jacoby Bender Champion steel mesh bracelet.
(Photos: NASA)
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By the end of February 1965, NASA had completed the rigorous wrist chronographs testing and already on February 29, 1965 we saw John Young training wearing an Omega Speedmaster 105.003-63. This watch must have been as "tests-survivor" as Omega only delivered the first batch of Speedmaster chronographs on April 23, 1965.
March 23, 1965, both Gemini III astronauts Virgil Grissom & John Young wore two wrist watches (Accutron Astronaut & Omega Speedmaster 105.003-63) on steel mesh JB-Champion bracelets.
Thusfar, April 29, 1965 Gemini IV preflight press briefing Washington D.C. photos are the earliest images showing the NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster chronograph on the wrists of NASA astronauts as both James McDivitt and Edward White wore their Speedmaster 105.003-63 on a steel mesh JB-Champion bracelet. So less than a week after NASA received the first batch!
On June 1, NASA announced the Omega Speedmaster as the official flight-qualified chronograph for all manned spaceflight missions.
The Gemini IV astronauts trained using the Omega Speedmaster on steel mesh bracelet, the very first time we saw the Speedmaster on a Velcro strap was Gemini IV launchday, June 3, 1965... with both astronauts each wearing two Omega Speedmaster 105.003-63
(Photos: NASA/UPI/USN)
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Velcro worked flawlessly, but NASA still had one question.... black or White Velcro ?

Velcro and Project Gemini
On 9 of the 10 Gemini spaceflight missions, all astronauts wore their wrist watches on long black Velcro straps.
The only exception might have been Michael Collins, who wore his NASA-issued Speedmaster 105.003-63 (NASA #7) on a "leather" strap underneath the David Clark Gemini G4C space suit.
Besides the NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 105.003 chronographs, the Glycine Airman automatic pilot watch (Gem V & Gem XI: Pete Conrad) and the Longines-LittleLindberg (Gem VIII: Neil Armstrong) were also worn.
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White Velcro?
On April 14, 1966 during a checkout of the Gemini capsule in the altitude chamber at the McDonnell Aircraft factory plant in St Louis Missouri, Gemini X command pilot John Young wore his Omega Speedmaster on a white Velcro strap.
On September 28, 1966 Gemini XII pilot Edwin Eugene Aldrin also trained wearing his NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 105.003-64 on a long white Velcro strap.
(Photos NASA)
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However, the white Velcro was never used on an actual spaceflight mission... or was it ?

Velcro and Project Apollo
On 10 of the 11 Apollo spaceflight missions, all astronauts wore their wrist watches on long black Velcro straps over the space suit. (exception: personal watches under the spacesuit on bracelets)
To be complete, we have to add that the 1967 Apollo 1 incident report cited the prevalence of Velcro 3.2 m2 near the ignition source as part of the combustible material near the fire in the command module.
April 1968 onwards, the Apollo 7 astronauts trained wearing their NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster wrist chronographs on white Velcro straps. Apollo 7 became the only mission during which white Velcro straps were worn!
Apollo 7 splashed-down on October 22, 1968 interesting to see the astronauts wearing their Omega Speedmaster on the long white Velcro straps until reception in the astronaut quarters KSC Florida.
(Photos: NASA)
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During Apollo 8 through 12, white Velcro straps remained in use but only for Apollo ground training.
(photos: NASA)
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Would we see the white Velcro straps return at NASA?

Velcro and Apollo 11
July 24, 1969 note how Edwin Aldrin wore the long black Velcro post-splash-down
August 10, 1969 Neil Armstrong leaving the quarantine facility after 21 days, by that time Aldrin's NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 105.012-65 (NASA #43) sat on a lightweight JB Champion steel mesh bracelet.
(photos: NASA)
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black Velcro, white Velcro... any other colours ?
Look at the khaki color of the Velcro in this photo of a Speedmaster at the "NASA a Human Adventure" exhibition which toured the world between 2011 and 2018.
We also learned the official NASA part numbers for these Velcro straps:
Gemini program (part no. CF 55052-5) and for Apollo program (part no. SEB12100030-202).
(photo: NASA)
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Even more colours, reddish orange in this Velcro strap used during Apollo 12, photo taken at the Omega museum Bienne in 2016...
(photo: Moonwatchuniverse)

I have not checked for a while but I am sure on the manifests there were different length Velcro straps, depending on what suits you needed to wear on the mission. A lot of thought went into small details. Great information and research as always @SpeedyPhill

Thanks for Your kind words, in an age of AI and short (des)information on most Social Media, we are the last generation who wrote to space agencies and collected paper photographs or glossy lithographs, in NASA's case all with an official NASA photonumber and official date stamp.
Note in the photos in the above posts, I have given the NASA photonumbers for future reference.
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Indeed there were different lengths for the Velcro straps, I have seen some Tech fiches on the NASA Velcro straps but my files only have these two, with one showing the hook and the other mentioning a length of 22 inches (56 cm comparable but longer than the 44 cm nylon webbing strap used by test pilots on the hypersonic flight research X-15).
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NASA photographs-wise, I have chosen two remarkable images, black Velcro & white Velcro:
First, a Gemini XI photo showing command pilot Charles "Pete" Conrad ready to strap a wrist watch on a long black Velcro over his space suit on launchday.
(photo: NASA)
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Last but not least an Apollo 7 launchday photo showing commander Walter "Wally" Schirra ready to strap his NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 105.012-65 chronograph on a long white Velcro over the A7 space suit. Note the length !
Interesting how chief of the Astronaut Office, Donald "Deke" Slayton quickly checked on his wrist watch if the time on the Omega Speedmaster was correct.
(photo: NASA)

I think I still have a copy of the watch band print in work. If I’m not mistaken, there are three lengths with each having its own part number. I’ll try to remember to look in the morning.

Adding some "modern day" images of Speedmaster on Velcro: note connection with springbars
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Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan scratcing his itchy nose on the drinking port in the bubble helmet of the A7LB space suit. Note the running chronograph hand!
Modern day spacefarers' helmet have a small nose scratching patch attached with Velcro to the inside of their pressure helmet.
(photo: NASA)

Hi Phill.

Is there a rolex 1675 with velcro seen in a photo?

@spacemission
Nope, Rolex were always worn on the orginal steel oyster bracelet, even today!
Exception was William Pete Knight on two X-15 flights (188 & 190) in 1967, wearing his GMT-master 1675 on the 44 cm nylon webbing strap especially made for the test pilots of the hypersonic flight research program.
Amazingly, this Apollo 17 photo shows Eugene Cernan wearing a Rolex 1675 with steel oyster bracelet partially fixed upon a Velcro strap with duct tape during lunar-EVA training for Apollo 17 at KSC Florida, June 1972.
(photo: NASA)

This is what I have on the Velcro bands...

I actually purchased mil spec Velcro and milsurp grosgrain ribbon to build some and then found Luna Replicas and went that route. Their straps are quite good and the only issue I have is the stamped/typed ID numbers wear off. Perhaps the originals did the same thing, but I don't have an original to verify that...

And apparently four lengths are specified by the drawings: -203, -204, -205 and -206.

Really cool stuff, @SpeedyPhill

I was looking through the January 1969 National Geographic issue dedicated to the Apollo 11 landing and saw some cool pictures that are perhaps relevant here.

Here's the cover:



Here's Armstrong with the speedmaster on black velcro before the launch (p. 755):



And, perhaps most interestingly for this discussion, here's Collins shaving with what looks like the speedmaster on velcro double-wrapped around his wrist (p. 779):

If there's one Apollo mission to spot Omega Speedmaster chronographs, it's the July 1975 ASTP mission as during the Apollo Soyuz Test Project 10 Speedmaster chronographs were worn ( 6 NASA 321 versions and 4 Russian 861 versions, with Leonov carrying an extra Omega flightmaster).
Note in the photos how Stafford often made sure to show off his Speedmaster right into the camera, perhaps he was already thinking about becoming an Omega ambassador?
Stafford left NASA in 1979 and became a member of the board of directors at Omega USA.
(photos: NASA)
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Here's Stafford post Gemini VIa mission, leaving USS Wasp on board a Grumman S-2 Tracker ASW aircraft... note the Velcro.

I believe Tom was issued two speedmasters for ATSP, so it would be easy to see one (them) in any shot.

I had the pleasure to meet him, and he was a wonderful man. I had no idea how significant his contributions to mankind (outside NASA and the ASTP program) were at that time- he was an advisor to Reagan which I like to think helped bring the wall down and brought the cold war to an end... Very gracious too. He signed a bunch of stuff I had and even offered to sign my A-B emblem A10 mission patch (which I though was weird at the time and declined). It was fun that when he saw my well-worn A10 patch he asked me where I had gotten it. He assumed it came off someone's flight suit (it didn't, but I wore it for years on the back of a leather jacket with the other mission patches)

I was still young and enamored with the Apollo program amidst the shuttle program. Something a bit more manly to me to ride the business end of an ICBM to another world...

My shrine in my office: