New reveals about the NASA Space program watch choice

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As MoonwatchUniverse pointed out in other topics, by March 1965, also Wally Schirra's Omega Speedmaster CK2998 personal chronograph was missing its bezel... Stay tuned for more 😉
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Elaborating on the topic in a more general way, Omega & manned spaceflight, we'll point out the 45th anniversary of the first visit of cosmonauts to Omega HQ in Bienne Switzerland... a tradition was born as between 1973 & 1989 about a dozen cosmonauts visited the watchmaker HQ.
During recent conversations with Russian friends, we got a good picture of the cosmonauts' genuine interest in Omega's chronographs as 1974 onwards Speedmaster Mark III and Flightmaster chronographs were used aboard Soviet-Russian Soyuz missions...
Next year 45 years ago, be it in the shadow of the upcoming 50th anniversaries of the US Apollo missions 👍
 
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All joking aside, the June 1963 photo is the best photo showing chief astronaut Donald Slayton wearing his personal Speedmaster... two years before these became standard NASA issue for the Gemini and Apollo programs. 😉
 
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MoonwatchUniverse commissioned some artworks to commemorate the Speedmaster chronograph and its use in manned spaceflight programs... Important moments in Omega's history/heritage.
As we revealed some interesting facts, attention was paid to both American and Russian spaceflight programs up to 1985, so the X33 Speedmaster was not included. Although our experience with Omega was enjoyable, MoonwatchUniverse plans to refocus on another make/brand 🤔
The original artworks will be displayed at several exhibitions but this kind of free goodies will be handed out during GTG... so stay tuned
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Edit: from left to right
Oct 1962 : astronaut Walter Schirra wore his personal Omega Speedmaster CK2998-4 during MA-8 mission
Jun 1965 : astronaut Ed White wore a pair of Omega Speedmaster 105.33-64 chronographs during Gemini IV
Jul 1969 : astronauts Neil Armstrong & Edwin Aldrin depicted during suit up for the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing mission
Dec 1977: cosmonaut Grechko on the launchpad wearing an Alaska II Speedmaster in red outer case to be used during Soyuz 26 mission, first to dock with the Salyut-6 space station
April 1981: tribute to NASA astronaut John Young, who regularly wore a Speedmaster 105.012 during STS-1 training
Edited:
 
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My time is almost up here at Omegaforums.net, not before I took the time to make an overview of my Omega Speedmaster spaceflight-timeline:
All this information can be confirmed with official NASA photos
📖
...
Timeline NASA and the Omega Speedmaster

1959, April 9
In Washington DC, the American space agency NASA presented the first group of military test pilots selected as astronauts. These men became known as the “Mercury Seven” and immediately became national heroes. June 1962 training photos revealed that three of the astronauts used a privately owned Omega Speedmaster chronograph; US Navy LtCmdr Walter "Wally" Schirra and US Air Force Captains Donald "Deke" Slayton and Leroy "Gordo" Cooper.


1963, October 3
During the 9 hours 13 minutes long Mercury-Atlas 8 mission, astronaut Walter “Wally” Schirra wore his personal Omega Speedmaster CK2998-4 aboard the “Sigma 7” capsule.
His Speedmaster chronograph became the first Omega in space!


1964, May 15
During the 34 hours 19 minutes long Mercury-Atlas 9 mission, astronaut Leroy “Gordo” Cooper was the first to test two wrist watches in space. Aboard the “Faith-7” capsule, Cooper checked the performance of his personal Bulova Accutron Astronaut tuning fork watch with his personal Omega Speedmaster CK2998 chronograph.


1964, October 21
NASA’s Gemini & Flight support procurement office contacted 10 watch brands to inform them about an upcoming competitive tender to supply the space agency with wrist watches for the astronauts of the Gemini space program. Only four watch brands responded and NASA project engineer James Ragan conducted rigorous testing of these time pieces.


1965, March 1
After 4 months of testing, NASA's flight safety office confirmed that only the Omega Speedmaster (reference 105.003) satisfied all flight qualification requirements and the Omega wristwatch could be purchased to be issued to NASA astronauts as government furnished equipment. On March 3, 1965 astronaut John Young was pictured wearing an Omega Speedmaster on a flat link bracelet over his Gemini spacesuit during GT-3 weight and balance tests.


1965, March 23
The two men Gemini III mission marked the first use of officially flight-qualified accepted Omega Speedmaster watches by NASA astronauts. Veteran command pilot Virgil Grissom wore a Speedmaster and an Accutron Astronaut while astronaut John Young wore two Speedmaster chronographs. On the launchpad, astronaut Thomas Stafford
assisted with capsule ingress and also wore an Omega Speedmaster (NASA photo 65-H-441).

1965, April 23
NASA purchased the first batch of Omega Speedmaster chronographs consisting of seventeen 105.003 wrist watches. The space agency obtained additional batches in 1966, 1967 and 1968. The latter procurement contained a mix of 105.012 and 145.012 although NASA kept the 105.003 chronographs operational during the entire Apollo program.


1965, June 1
NASA Gemini program office issued its Letter of Certification, officialising the Omega Speedmaster as the only flight-qualified chronograph for Gemini and Apollo programs. These chronographs ran on the calibre 321 movement...
On June 3, 1965 the Gemini IV mission, during which astronauts James McDivitt and Edward White both wore two Speedmasters to keep track of mission events elapsed time, became the highlight of the program as White conducted a 20 minutes long spacewalk.
Regular manual wind Speedmaster chronographs were issued to all subsequent Gemini crews, and worn on another 8 spacewalks, until the end of the program in November 1966.


1968, October
Omega introduced the calibre 861 for the Speedmaster 145.022 and this cam-switched movement progressively replaced the calibre 321 column-wheel movement. Based on astronauts’ feedback NASA and Omega started to work on the ultimate space watch using the codename Alaska. This research lead to an innovative Speedmaster cased in pure titanium protected by an extra aluminium outer case and resulted in the development of the X-33 Speedmaster in 1997.

1969, July 20
Apollo 11 became a historic mission as it landed the first two astronauts on the Moon.
Commander Neil Armstrong was the first to set foot on the lunar surface but he didn’t wear his NASA-issued Speedmaster 105.012-65 as it was left inside the cockpit of the “Eagle” Lunar Module as a backup for the malfunctioning electronic timer. Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin was the first to wear an Omega Speedmaster during a lunar EVA (spacewalk). Armstrong and Aldrin conducted a 2 hours 31 minutes moonwalk and spent of total of 21 hours 36 minutes in Mare Tranquillitatis before rejoining Command Module Pilot Michael Collins aboard “Columbia” in lunar orbit.
Total mission time was 8 days 3 hours.

1970, April 16
Apollo 13 became a historic mission as it encountered an oxygen tank explosion crippling the Command & Service Module “Odyssey” and aborting the lunar landing. Commander James Lovell, Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise and Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert evacuated into the Lunar Module “Aquarius” which became a lifeboat as its engine was used to make a series of burns to bring the spacecraft back to Earth. The last of these LM burns had to be timed with the onboard interval timer, which failed so Jack Swigert resulted in the need to use his Speedmaster chronograph instead. The crew performed the 14 seconds burn to correct the re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
Total mission time was 5 days 22 hours.


1972, December 19
Apollo 17 became the final mission to land men on the Moon. Commander Eugene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot geologist Harrison “Jack” Schmitt conducted 22 hours moonwalk EVA time and spent a total of 75 hours in Taurus-Littrow before rejoining Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans in lunar orbit. The heat flow experiment aboard “America” was equipped with a Speedmaster 145.022-69 chronograph, the sole calibre 861 to fly on an Apollo lunar mission.
Total mission time was 12 days 13 hours.


1975, July 17
The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) marked the end of the space race as three American astronauts joined two Russian cosmonauts in Earth orbit. The Soyuz spacecraft connected with an Apollo Command & Service Module equipped with a special docking module. Both mission commanders, Thomas Stafford and Alexei Leonov exchanged the first international handshake in space. Both crews accounted for a total of 11 Omega Speedmaster chronographs flown during the mission, conducting joint activities as the craft remained docked for 44 hours. US crew total mission time was 9 days 1 hour.


1976, March
To commemorate the successful Apollo-Soyuz mission, Omega distributor De Marchi requested a special Speedmaster 145.022 series for the Italian market.


1977, October 9 and December 10
The Omega Alaska project chronographs made it to the Russian space program as both the Soyuz 25 and Soyuz 26 crews were photographed wearing the red distinctive outer cases over the left forearm of their Sokol spacesuits. Soyuz 25 was unable to dock with the Salyut-6 space station, so Soyuz 26 became the first long-stay crew aboard the Russian space station. It was fitting that these watches should be worn by Russians, given that the Titanium was sourced in the Soviet Union.


1981, November 12
Astronauts Joe Engle and Richard Truly were the first to wear the Omega radial dial Speedmaster Alaska III chronograph aboard space shuttle mission STS-2 as the Speedmaster was requalified for the space transportation system program.


1983, April 7
Astronauts Story Musgrave and Donald Peterson performed the first space shuttle era EVA (spacewalk) aboard Challenger during the STS-6 mission. Omega Speedmasters were attached to the sewn-in pockets in the outer garment layer of their right hand gloves, covered by a Velcro flap. This was in marked contrast to Russian cosmonauts who continued to strap their Speedmaster chronographs directly to the forearms of their Orlan space suits.


1990, December 2
The Soyuz TM-11 crew took a box containing 10 Omega Speedmaster chronographs up to the Russian space station Mir. During 90 days, these watches were checked and used in the low-gravity environment of the space station before being returned to Earth in March 1991.


1993, July 1
The Soyuz TM-17 crew took a set of 35 Omega Speedmaster chronographs, among which 7 in yellow gold, up to the Russian space station Mir. After a year in space, these chronographs were returned to Earth on July 9, 1994 and were sold in July 1995. Each watch had a special caseback referring to their time aboard the Mir space station.


1998, January 23
The seven astronauts aboard space shuttle Endeavour were the first to wear the new Omega X-33 Speedmaster Professional during the STS-89 mission to the Russian space station Mir. On March 28, 1998 NASA astronaut Andrew Thomas together with Russian cosmonauts Musabayev and Budarin presented the X-33 watches during a live television broadcast from the space station.


2003,
Astronaut Donald Pettit performed the first watch repair in space as he refastened the crown onto his X-33 Speedmaster Professional chronograph.


2014, December 15
European astronaut Jean-François Clervoy patented the X-33 Skywalker functions for the European Space Agency (ESA). In addition to the previous X-33 model, the Skywalker featured additional countdown features such as a phase elapsed time function and mission elapsed time alarms so the cosmonaut/astronaut could more easily keep track of the time leading up to, and since certain mission events. Having passed all ESA tests, the X-33 Speedmaster Skywalker became standard equipment for all European astronauts.


2019, July 16
Omega commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with a limited edition of the manual wind Speedmaster chronograph.

 
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Great! I’d note that 1981 was the requal for the 861.

Also isn’t everything post Apollo a 861 or is there a question about the A/S mission and STS1?
 
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That's a bit cryptic. Care to elaborate?
Almost everything Omega-related out of almost 5 decades collecting spaceflight photos has been shared here...
Between 1999 & 2019, as a watch enthusiast I wrote 5 articles on the subject, so I feel my work is done here
Moreover, talking to several ISS astronauts peaked an interest in another 5 letter watch make with an O in it... 😉
 
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Almost everything Omega-related out of almost 5 decades collecting spaceflight photos has been shared here...
Between 1999 & 2019, as a watch enthusiast I wrote 5 articles on the subject, so I feel my work is done here
Moreover, talking to several ISS astronauts peaked an interest in another 5 letter watch make with an O in it... 😉
Seiko pogue😉
 
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It's the month of March again and here's the photo supporting my claim about the use of the early Omega Speedmaster chronographs issued to the Gemini III prime and backup crews... Ending my discourse with the assumption NASA only had 4 operational Speedmasters at that time.
1965, March 23
The two men Gemini III mission marked the first use of officially flight-qualified accepted Omega Speedmaster watches by NASA astronauts. Veteran command pilot Virgil Grissom wore a Speedmaster (left wrist) and an Accutron Astronaut (right wrist) while astronaut John Young wore two Speedmaster chronographs. On the launchpad, astronaut Thomas Stafford assisted with capsule ingress and also wore an Omega Speedmaster (left wrist) while Wally Schirra wore his personal Omega Speedmaster CK2998 (NASA photo 65-H-441)...
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Not a reveal as such but as I cannot search for the vintage advertizing topic, I'll post it here... to round up this topic...
1978 Omega Speedmaster chronograph requalified for manned spaceflight missions, linked to the official 1981 STS-1 space shuttle mission logo
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https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/omega.html
NASM: In early April 2017, we were reliably informed that table contains errors and a new listing will be provided... 🍿

I wouldn't hold your breath for a new list. The NASM has indicated that the updated complete list may not be released publicly citing security concerns.
 
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Donald "Deke" Slayton...
May 15, 1963 at Cape Canaveral mission control during the " Faith 7" mission
😬
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tumblr_oor7lf9LDP1wnbgw6o1_1280.jpg
What cigar is that?
 
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It's the month of March again and here's the photo supporting my claim about the use of the early Omega Speedmaster chronographs issued to the Gemini III prime and backup crews... Ending my discourse with the assumption NASA only had 4 operational Speedmasters at that time.
1965, March 23
The two men Gemini III mission marked the first use of officially flight-qualified accepted Omega Speedmaster watches by NASA astronauts. Veteran command pilot Virgil Grissom wore a Speedmaster (left wrist) and an Accutron Astronaut (right wrist) while astronaut John Young wore two Speedmaster chronographs. On the launchpad, astronaut Thomas Stafford assisted with capsule ingress and also wore an Omega Speedmaster (left wrist) while Wally Schirra wore his personal Omega Speedmaster CK2998 (NASA photo 65-H-441)...
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Reply & correction to self
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It looks like NASA didn't fly all 3 Omega Speedmaster chronograph available at the time... ( 4th sustained some damage during tests ? )
As I just found another good photo which finally solves the complete puzzle for Gemini III in March 1965
Although there're many photos, most were taken on March 18 (simulated launch procedures) and March 19 (flight, abort & rescue simulation)
The photo I've attached 5 posts ago ( NASA 65-H-441 )was taken on March 23, 1965 = Gemini III launchday, showing Grissom wearing an Accutron Astronaut tuninfg fork wristwatch together with an Omega Speedmaster chronograph...
The photo hereunder ( NASA S65-24729 ) was taken some minutes later showing Young wearing an Accutron Astronaut together with an Omega Speedmaster...
So both Gemini III astronauts wore an Accutron and an Omega ... case closed 👍
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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 his 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
Edited:
 
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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 )

Edit: Apollo 17 Evans's 3rd watch was a personal Speedmaster 145.022 ( so another 861 to the Moon )
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