In analogy to the " Hidden gems from the NASA photo archives" we're starting a similar topic with all photos belonging to the public domain copyright RKA/TASS This topic was overdue and it will reveal some amazing facts about the Russian spacefarers' wristwatches... Omega chronographs in particular ! Spaceflight aficionados already know that cosmonaut Yuri Artyukhin wore an Omega Flightmaster on the Soyuz 14 mission to the Salyut 3 space station in July 1974... This watch was auctioned by Heritage Space auctions in 2016. December 1977 training photos for the Soyuz 27 mission, show cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov wearing a “ 125 years Omega Speedmaster ” reference ST 378.0801. Three years later, Dzhanibekov was wearing a Speedmaster 145.022 on Soyuz 39 to Salyut 6 in March 1981, the “ Intercosmos ” mission with Mongolia. . Dzhanibekov training for Soyuz 27 - 1978
As it's a SpeedyTuesday we'll immediately post a reply-to-self showing a rarely seen image of the Soyuz 26 crew... Geography aficionados know there's barely 44 kilometers between the West & the East as the USA and the USSR are very close to each other, near Alaska only separated by the Bering Sea... more precise the Diomede islands (aka Tomorrow & Yesterday). By January 1970 the US space agency NASA had to cancel three Apollo space missions due to congressional budget restrictions... and the perfect space watch prototypes developed during the secret NASA/Omega cooperation " Alaska " project didn't get tested onboard the Apollo space missions... For the last few months, MoonwatchUniverse has been touring some astro/space associations with a lecture on the wrist watches used by spacefarers ( Astronauts, Cosmonauts, ESAnauts, Taikonauts,... ) revealing some interesting facts about space watches... Although I didn't find any photos of the Alaska project protective exterior outer case being tested onboard the later NASA missions (Skylab, STS), we did locate some interesting Soyuz prelaunch images showing these red exterior cases were tested by Russian cosmonauts as pictured in these walk-out photo of the Soyuz 26 mission in December 1977. It looks like, in addition to their Poljot 3133 wrist watch, both commander Yuri Romanenko and flight engineer Georgi Grechko wore the "Alaska" exterior case above the pressure gauge of their KV01 space suit. The crew stayed aboard the Salyut 6 space station for 96 days 10 hours… We're still looking for some color photos showing the red protective " Alaska project " cases in use aboard Salyut 6 in the usual sources (old Russian books & photos) but any help from the Ω forum is welcome ! .
40 years ago, in October 1977 the Soyuz 25 "rookie" crew consisting of commander Vladimir Kovalyonok and flight engineer Valeri Ryumin wore the distinctive red-colored " Alaska project " exterior case next to the pressure gauge of their KV01 Sokol space suit. However, the crew failed to make a hard docking with the Salyut 6 space station and returned to Earth… .
@SpeedyPhill Thank you for posting these! And yes, this thread is long overdue. It would be fascinating to learn how the Soviets got their hands on an Alaska Project. Yes, the Swiss are neutral. But still, I bet that's an interesting story.
Thanks for the heads up... IMHO the Russian side of the Omega story has been neglected... Although the (Soviet-) Russian cosmonauts have been using Omega chronographs since the 1970s... December 1988 French cosmonaut Jean-Loup Chrétien juggled Speedmaster chronographs in micro-gravity aboard the Mir space station. As this was Chrétien's second spaceflight, he had a special watch made for the CNES Aragatz mission: Yema Spationaute III (visible at his right wrist) .
That moment when You're sure You didn't miss any Omega flown with the Russian cosmonauts and their Intercosmos & European colleagues Speedmaster Flightmaster SpeedyPro125 etc... almost 50 years old spaceflight photo collection #StuffNotOnInterwebs .
Not so long ago a forum-member pointed out a FlightMaster or Mark III on the wrist of cosmonaut Victor Gorbatko ... Here's a better photo as a Speedmaster Mark III sits right in front on the desk ... December 1976 ... mission launched in February 1977 However, for 2018 MWU has to avoid being ... .
Hodinkee picked up my story ( photos have been sitting for almost 4 decades in my collection ) https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/a...-never-go-to-space-actually-did-at-least-once Omega Switzerland checked the story acknowledging the project was flown under another name... Interesting stuff... Or how Russian cosmonaut Shatalov got a Rolex GMT in April 1971 ??? . . C U all in 2019...
August 2016, cosmonaut Sergei Ryzhikov of Roscosmos dons his Russian Sokol KV2 spacesuit in preparation for the Soyuz qualification exams connected with ISS Expedition 49 It looks like he was wearing a tribute Gagarin Sturmanskie wrist watch... .
Noticed that the long anticipated " Flightmaster Only " book has been finished, just in time ready for Baselworld 2018... Curious to learn what it brings in a chapter entitled " Famous Aviators and the Ultimate Destin of a Tool-watch: Russian Space Adventure " My red marker in the hand... I already posted some rarely seen spaceflight pictures showing the Flightmaster pilot watch in action: . Website = https://wristwatchlover.tumblr.com/archive
51 years ago... cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died during return of the Soyuz-1 mission The photo of the salvaged burned time pieces always amazed me... . https://strela-watch.de/vladimir-komarov/
In June 2016, the watchprosite website brought an interesting report about a dinner event during which the Omega museum's heritage manager gave more details about the selection of the Omega Speedmaster for NASA and their subsequent acquisition of 17 time pieces in 1965... By analogy with the interesting details shared during this event, it would be nice to finally hear the same thing about the Omega time pieces used in the (Soviet-) Russian space program... Did the cosmonauts buy their Flightmaster (Soyuz 14 & 21), Speedmaster Mark III (Soyuz 15), classic Speedmaster (Soyuz 39) and Speedmaster 125 (Soyuz T-6) themselves ? How many X-33 did they acquire in 1998 and when did the Russians get the classic Speedmaster chronographs used today aboard the ISS ? Questions, questions, questions...
June 1982, French CNES astronaut Jean-Loup Chrétien and Russian cosmonaut Alex Ivanchenkov are filmed by Commander Vladimir Dzhanibekov aboard the Salyut 7 space station. Their Soyuz T-6 mission lasted 7 days 22 hours and Dzhanibekov wore a LE - Limited Edition Omega Speedmaster “125″ chronometer-certified wrist watch. (Photo: CNES) .
July 1976 the Soyuz 21 crew, cosmonauts Boris Volynov and Vitali Zholobov, at the foot of the launchpad in Baikonour. Zholobov clearly wore an Omega Flightmaster on his left forearm in addition to his wrist watch... .
Already 55 years ago... June 16, 2018 marks the 55th anniversary of Valentina Tereshkova becoming the world's first and only woman to ever complete a solo space flight... As five cosmonauts did before her on Vostok spaceflights, she wore a basic Sturmanskie wrist watch See scans here under with cosmonaut Alexei Leonov on the right in the 2nd image .
Together with the guys at the Seiko7a38 forum: Soyuz TM-7 in november 1988 From left to right Jean-Loup Chrétien Left wrist - Yema Spationaute III on black YEMA velcro strap Left forearm - Omega Speedmaster on thin black velcro strap Right forearm - Poljot 3133* on extra long brown leather strap Aleksander Volkov Left wrist (under glove) - Elektronika-5 LCD digital Left forearm - Poljot 3133* on extra long brown leather strap Right wrist - Yema Spationaute III on black YEMA velcro strap Sergei Krikalev Left wrist** (under glove) - Elektronika-5 LCD digital Left forearm - Poljot 3133* on extra long brown leather strap Right wrist** (under glove) - Yema Spationaute III on black YEMA velcro strap .
40 years ago, July 1978... first Polish cosmonaut Hermaszewski about to board Soyuz 30 on his way to the Salyut-6 space station... Looks like he was wearing at least 3 wristwatches... .