The hot babe who cuts my hair told me that grey hairs are thicker than blond hairs. Thank goodness for that.

Tom

 

I'm thinking this question could require a 2 hour special episode of..... In Search of...



I have been tying it to find out the answer to why Schirra's watch is missing the bezel. As I was looking closer at a few images I now see that the Speedmaster on Stafford's right arm is missing its bezel as well. The one on his left has its bezel intact.

I could probably explain away one missing bezel but not two. I wonder why they were removed on brand new watches that were just certified for flight 9 months earlier?

 

Gus Grissom would simply exclaim: WTF???

 

That's what I said when I noticed the second watch.

 

Here is another image from the JL Pickering collection that I ran across today.

Schirra - "Tom, look at this sweet a$$ new Speedmaster Deke was handing out today."
Stafford - "That looks great Wally. I love how you ripped the bezel off. I'm going to do that to one of mine too."



I think this is a great photo because clearly the watch is the focus of the image.

 

It's not difficult to imagine the bezel getting knocked off during some pre-flight training exercise. Like Gemini capsule emergency egress, for example.





Seriously??? Imagine ejecting 2 minutes into the flight while traveling at Mach X.whatever .

The only emergency egress option more absurd than Gemini's was that of the Space Shuttle.

 

How many cases are there that a Base1000 bezel would actually be useful!

 

Love the fireball radius.

That's a good angle to take. If that is what possibly happen why not remove the bezels from all the watches as a safety precaution to avoid FOD in the cockpit knowing how easily they could be knocked off? On Apollo 7 there is pretty good documentation about Schirra's displeasure with FOD on his previous missions and how pleased he was only one small piece of Velcro was found floating free in the Apollo 7 capsule. Sounds like an email to Stafford is in order.

 

There's FOD, then there's FOD.

Transcript from Apollo 10 Command Module recordings:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/mission_trans/AS10_CM.PDF
Search the .PDF document for the word "turd".

(@TLIGuy -- while you're at it, you could ask Gen. Stafford about the turd incident as well, since he was the CDR on Apollo 10)

 

You have to admire the Omega product placement team. Just a few hours ago Expedition 46/47 left for the ISS. Hats off to the the Brits sending up their first astronaut to the ISS.

 

Wow! A Triple Play! Nicely done @TLIGuy

 

If I was an astronaut, I would try and figure out how to get them to set me up with a Limited Edition Gemini 4. It would match quite nicely with that space suit.

 

Great photo. I've been keeping an eye on this all day. Very exciting to finally have a professional british space man!

 

So, I attended the lecture that was part of the Christie's auction yesterday which Mr Ragan from NASA was part of. It was quite interesting, but on topic, Mr Ragan mentioned that he had raised some concern about the Hesalite crystals being used in space. His concern was that when exposed to direct sunlight for prolonged periods of time, they might deform. Testing confirmed that exposing a speedy to prolonged heat comparable to direct sunlight would result in the crystal reforming and even popping off. He noted that when this happened, the bezels also would often pop off. He also said that it was not uncommon for them to remove the bezels as 'we traveled too fast to use them'. He sai they just didn't serve much purpose in this particular case.

So there you have it.

This issue with the crystals was also largely the driver behind the Alaska project series where they were trying to find a design that wouldn't suffer the same problem.

As a side note, I've been curious about which reference Mr. Schirra wore as the first omega in space. I had an opportunity to ask Mr Ragan if he knew. He said that he had access to it and was planning to make it public in 2016. I'm hoping it's a 2998-4.

 

Elena Serova doubles down on Speedmasters; ISS Expedition 41, 2014-2015

She's featured in the "Time for Her" section on Omega's web site here:
http://www.omegawatches.com/timeforher/article/elena-serova-life-above-earth/

 

What a great post and thread! Really enjoyed the images. Well done!

 

Here are a couple of photos of Apollo 12 and Sklab 3 astronaut Alan Bean and his golden Speedmaster. The photos were taken around the time of the Skylab 3 mission, pre-flight. The watch was sold at auction in April 2015 for $50,000.

 

While on the topic of Alan Bean (veteran of Apollo 12, Skylab 3), I found this noteworthy image of a painting by Bean. In retirement, Astronaut Bean took up painting and especially enjoys painting pictures that are representative of the Apollo era. The painting below is obviously based on a photo that Bean himself took (of his EVA partner Pete Conrad) while on the lunar surface. It's nice to see that he thought it was important to include a small detail such as the Speedmaster on Conrad's arm. What's interesting (aside from the vivid colours) are the subtle differences between the painting and the photo on which it is based (also posted below): in the painting, the lunar horizon rests quite a bit lower in the scene, and the Lunar Module is missing entirely. I assume Bean felt these differences would enhance the aesthetic appeal of the scene.

 

A tribute to Astronaut Edgar Dean Mitchell, who passed away on February 4th, 2016.

Mitchell was particularly fond of his Rolex GMTs and wore a pair of them during pre-flight training exercises and during the actual Apollo 14 mission. He wore his NASA-issue Speedmaster on the left arm of his spacesuit when mission protocol required but I haven't been able to find any clear images of Mitchell and his Speedmaster taken during the Moon mission itself. Here's a pre-flight image of Mitchell with a Speedmaster on the exterior of his spacesuit.



Here's a photo of Mitchell's space-flown Speedmaster, which is now on display at the US Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, FL.

 

What a great thread! Thanks to all who have posted such great photos!