Celebrating 60 Years Of The Omega Speedmaster Becoming NASA Flight Qualified

A few side notes... as we like all nerdy NASA details:
☕
AFAIK, there're actually no 1964-1965 photographs of NASA engineer James Ragan testing the chronographs (among which the Speedmaster 105.003-63). If You look at the whole photo series, all watches are Speedmaster Professional versions so these NASA photos date from 1966-1967...
NASA received the first batch of Omega Speedmaster chronographs on April 23, 1965. The watches worn during Gemini III on March 23, 1965 must have been chronographs delivered for the NASA tests. Besides a Speedmaster 105.003-63, the Gemini III crew also wore a battery-powered tuning-fork movement Accutron Astronaut GMT pilot watch.
NASA astronaut US Navy LtCdr Eugene Cernan wore his NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 105.003-64 (NASA n° 28) during Gemini IX (June 1966), Apollo 10 (May 1969) and finally during Apollo 17 (December 1972). Cernan kept n° 28 as a goodluck charm and already during Apollo 10, it can be spotted without a bezel. These watches were worn onboard tight cockpits and spacecraft so hitting the watch could potentially lead to a loss of bezel. Several NASA astronauts didn't care about losing a bezel; Slayton, Lovell, Borman, Schirra, Cernan and Stafford.
During Gemini VIa Walter Schirra even used a bezelless Speedmaster.
As an Apollo 17 Moonwalker, Cernan wore NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 105.012-66 (NASA n° 67) on a black Velcro over the left forearm of the A7LB EV space suit and his lucky charm 105.003-64 (NASA n° 28) underneath the spacesuit on a steel mesh JB Champion bracelet.

Remember Swatch already came with a "commemorative" moonSwatch on March 1, 2025:
the other watches represented the Longines-Wittnauer and the Rolex chronographs which didn't pass the January-February 1965 NASA tests
.

I go with Jim Ragan's June 1, 1965 date.

Of course !

Already three years before NASA-qualification, three test pilots of the "Mercury 7" had bought an Omega Speedmaster CK2998, because they were “gearheads” fans of fast cars, so Slayton, Schirra and Cooper bought an Omega Speedmaster chronograph. However, NASA didn’t allow the astronauts on active flight status to take part in races, so they could only drive on the Indy 500 Speedway during pre-race ceremonies, greeting the crowds from the back of a convertible. Of the “Mercury 7”, only John Glenn didn’t drive a muscle sports car.
In fact, Donald Slayton was the first to buy an Omega Speedmaster as NASA photos show Slayton wearing a CK2998 in March 1962 while the first photos of Schirra wearing a CK2998 are dated late April 1962.
In September 1959, NASA had issued the seven astronauts with a 24 hours dial/movement LeCoultre “Mercury 7” watch but they deemed the 33mm watch was too small and only wore it during training and on official PR events. When Mercury simulator training started, engineers hung a stopwatch in the sim, hence John Glenn’s choice for a Heuer Long Range stopwatch to be worn during his “Friendship 7” flight in February 1962.
For practical reasons, the astronauts needed a chronograph wrist watch and in May 1962 Scott Carpenter received his bespoke Breitling Navitimer chronograph just in time for his “Aurora 7” mission. In this way Carpenter became the very first astronaut to wear a (Swiss-made) wrist watch in space.
In October 1962, Walter Schirra wore his 1961 Speedmaster CK2998-4 during the "Sigma 7" mission. By November 1962, during his official MA-9 flight announcement Gordon Cooper was also spotted wearing an Omega Speedmaster CK2998, which he wore together with a battery-powered tuning fork movement Accutron Astronaut GMT pilot watch on “Faith 7” in May 1963 !