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Speedmasters still for EVA’s….Fact or Fiction?

SpeedyPhill
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Luckily there're still ample examples of the Russians using an Omega Speedmaster chronograph during EVA: June 2013 expedition 36
😎 on the wrist, not on the chest
.
1024px-ISS-36_EVA-1_n_Fyodor_Yurchikhin.jpg
 
TNTwatch
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TLIGuy TLIGuy
Do American NASA astronauts still use the Speedmaster during their EVA’s?
Good question! Where did your belief come from?
 
KstateSkier
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Anyone know any astronauts? Maybe we can just ask them.

Now that I think about it, as the worlds foremost forum on Omega I'm frankly surprised there isn't an astronaut as a forum member? Maybe there is.

Any astronauts out there? Time to chime in, its your moment to shine 😎
 
TLIGuy
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TNTwatch TNTwatch
Good question! Where did your belief come from?

The magic of Omega marketing😉

KstateSkier KstateSkier
Any astronauts out there? Time to chime in, its your moment to shine 😎

Astronauts check in at the forum from time to time. For what it's worth every astronaut that signed a piece for my collection has visited the forum to see their piece posted and the response to it. I can tell you that many of the astronauts poked around a bit to look at a few other things and were impressed by what they saw.
 
TLIGuy
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TNTwatch TNTwatch
Any present or recent marketing material?

Just a bit of sarcasm. No, nothing recent from Omega. I do think that there is a lot of misinformation out there that is no fault of Omega. I simply like to take things about the Speedmaster I read as fact on line or in publications and see if I can prove or disprove them.
 
Foo2rama
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You can clearly see both US and Russian astronauts wearing speedies outside the suit on launch. My understanding is that the current US EVA Spacesuit which differes from take off and landing has the watch under a protective cover.
 
SpeedyPhill
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Indeed Foo2rama but it isn't obvious to see that in photos and the sewn-in watch in the right hand glove might just have been a project.
In fact, there was even a project to include an electronic display in the left hand glove... 👎
.
412spaceglove500x643.jpg
 
Foo2rama
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SpeedyPhill SpeedyPhill
Indeed Foo2rama but it isn't obvious to see that in photos and the sewn-in watch might have been a project.
In fact, there was even a project to include an electronic display in the glove... 👎
There was other confirmation on this somewhere.

It can be documented that everyone does at least go up with external speedies at launch.
 
TLIGuy
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Foo2rama Foo2rama
You can clearly see both US and Russian astronauts wearing speedies outside the suit on launch. My understanding is that the current US EVA Spacesuit which differes from take off and landing has the watch under a protective cover.

@Foo2rama thanks for chiming in. I know you have followed these topics closely.

If you have any images of the glove other than the one I posted above I would really love to see it. From all external images I can find the current glove in use by the US astronauts do not include any flaps other than the one on the outside of the hand.

Regarding seeing Speedmasters on the outside of the suits during launches you are absolutely correct. You only see these on the outside of the Russian Sokol suits that are worn by all crew members launching or retuning from the ISS regardless of nationality.

That said, the reason you see them there and on the cosmonauts during EVA's is because there is a contract between Omega and Roscosmos requiring cosmonauts to wear and be photographed wearing the Speedmaster.
 
wsfarrell
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The first two photos----here's a watch, now it's gone----are fairly disturbing to me. I understand that most advertising photos are enhanced, but I think there's a real difference between making something look better and creating something that never existed. I wonder if Omega contacted Gernhardt and got permission to use his image, or paid him to use his image, and told him they'd be putting a watch on him that he never wore.......
 
TLIGuy
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wsfarrell wsfarrell
The first two photos----here's a watch, now it's gone----are fairly disturbing to me. I understand that most advertising photos are enhanced, but I think there's a real difference between making something look better and creating something that never existed. I wonder if Omega contacted Gernhardt and got permission to use his image, or paid him to use his image, and told him they'd be putting a watch on him that he never wore.......

I think another interesting question that could be asked is with the 100's of pictures out there of astronauts wearing the Speedmaster why did one need to be created👎
 
rcs914
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TLIGuy TLIGuy
Not only did he not wear the Speedmaster during his EVA he didn’t wear one at all.

sts069-377-021.jpg

CREDIT - NASA STS069-377-021 (7-18 September 1995)

So here's the question - what is he wearing? If I had to make my guess it's a Chronosport UDT in SS w/SS bezel, which is pretty uncommon compared to how most of them were PVD coated. While I couldn't find a specific model, I did find this picture on another site discussing Chronosports:

4ChronoSport.JPG

Pretty sure the one on the right is a dead ringer for what is on his wrist.
 
kkt
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wsfarrell wsfarrell
The first two photos----here's a watch, now it's gone----are fairly disturbing to me. I understand that most advertising photos are enhanced, but I think there's a real difference between making something look better and creating something that never existed. I wonder if Omega contacted Gernhardt and got permission to use his image, or paid him to use his image, and told him they'd be putting a watch on him that he never wore.......

He was working for NASA at the time, the images are property of NASA and as a public agency their images can be used without asking permission in advance.

I share you concern about the apparently photoshopped watch! Gernhardt, NASA, and/or Omega should be contacted for comment.

Note the caption to what looks like this same picture posted on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-69 "Unlike earlier spacewalking astronauts, Gernhardt was able to use an electronic cuff checklist, a prototype developed for the assembly of the International Space Station." Unfortunately, the Wikipedia article doesn't include a citation for this specific statement.
 
TLIGuy
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kkt kkt
Note the caption to what looks like this same picture posted on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-69 "Unlike earlier spacewalking astronauts, Gernhardt was able to use an electronic cuff checklist, a prototype developed for the assembly of the International Space Station." Unfortunately, the Wikipedia article doesn't include a citation for this specific statement.

Good catch. Unless the electronic checklist is on the other wrist this one is clearly old school paper.

Screen Shot 2017-03-29 at 7.30.44 PM.jpg
 
T
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Good research.
Thank you for that.

Now I do recall seeing a video where an astronaut changed the battery on a speedmaster X-33 on the ISS. Of course...no evidence that it was ever used for EVA...or if it even for over the suit. But the video does show that Omega's most modern speedy is spaceworthy.

I guess marketing has a way of making those who want to believe .....really believe.
 
TLIGuy
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Okay this just in from an astronaut that performed two EVA's as part of the Expedition 40/41 crew.

Short and sweet. "US no longer wears them outside. The Russians still do. I wore it on my Sokol suit for ascent and entry."
Edited:
 
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