Why Ed White Wore Two Speedmaster 105.003 Watches

[Robert-Jan]

You’re probably familiar with astronaut Ed White, who performed NASA’s first spacewalk in 1965 as part of the Gemini IV mission. On the pictures of that spacewalk, you can see him wearing two watches. Unfortunately Ed White died in the fatal accident with Apollo 1. His name will live forever though, as the man who […]

Visit Why Ed White Wore Two Speedmaster 105.003 Watches to read the full article.

 

[SpeedyPhill]

MoonwatchUniverse is currently working hard on a full update on the Omega Speedmaster watches worn during the 1965-1966 Gemini era...
We will start to mention that on Gemini IV both astronauts wore a pair of Omega Speedmaster chronographs... so command pilot James McDivitt wore a Speedmaster 105.003 on each wrist... hence the mnemonic " 4 on IV " ( 4 Speedmasters during Gemini IV )
Of course the very first thing to do is getting the correct number of watches worn by each astronaut on a certain mission...
What's new in this article ?
Our listings have 17 watches delivered to NASA on April 23, 1965... this article mentioned 24 chronographs
Our listings have watches #5 and #6 for James McDivitt and indeed #4 for Frank Borman on the long-duration Gemini VII
There must have been a second batch of Speedmasters delivered to NASA as Thomas Stafford used #20 and #27 during Gemini VI (Dec 15, 1965)

 

[SpeedyPhill]

1st remark:
There're no more questions nor discussions on the types & number of watches worn on NASA missions between May 1962 and July 1975
2nd remark
This brings up the fact, that during Gemini IV, both astronauts wore a pair of Omega Speedmasters, command pilot James McDivitt wore a Speedmaster 105.003 on each wrist while Edward White, as he had to handle the "zipgun", wore two on the left forearm of his space suit!
Remember " 4 on IV " and Gemini IV lasted 4 days
The article reveals NASA #4 for McDivitt and NASA #5 for White but that's barely half-of-the-story

 

[SpeedyPhill]

@pseikotick
For each mission, NASA has detailed transcriptions & timelines... Time-period photographs have an official number & often a time stamp !

What makes it all confusing ?
There're a lot of photographs, even during astronaut training and final rehearsals ( TCDT = terminal countdown demonstration test )
While in the early Gemini days, often no watches were worn during training, but during Apollo training watches were worn all the time...

What makes it easy for Gemini IV ?
During actual launchday, the astronauts wore, for the very first time, a US Stars & Stripes flag on their left shoulder and Ed White wore his Gold visor upon leaving the suit-up trailer at Pad 16, 07:00 EST taking the little NASA van that brough the crew to launch Pad 19 where they arrived at exactly 07:08 EST
On June 3, 1965 both Gemini IV astronauts wore a pair of NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster chronographs... no discussion about that !
NASA photo S65-29660
Gemini IV astronauts James McDivitt & Edward White during walk-out to the launch Pad 19 at Cape Canaveral ( time was 07:10 EST )
All 4 NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster chronographs are clearly visible !

 

[eugeneandresson]

pseikotick

And what is the source of the "fact" regarding how many Speedmasters were worn?

The images documenting the actual event, perhaps

 

[Robert-Jan]

Our source is clearly stated, it is Omega. And they have been informed by James H. Ragan, former NASA engineer. Omega has been doing research at the Smithsonian as well as with James Ragan. The images provided clearly show Ed White wearing two watches during EVA, so I don't get why you don't get it ;-) The serial numbers help to identify the specific watches (105.003-63) and from which batches these watches originate. From what Omega told me, is that NASA kept a list of who used which watch (also shown in the article that one watch could be worn by different astronauts during different missions).

I do agree that there is not an answer to everything. Simply because not everything has been documented or because not everything is being made available to us. That's also not really an issue, is it? It leaves something to the imagination perhaps, or room for future discoveries/reveals.

 

[SpeedyPhill]

@Robert-Jan is right about the exact NASA serial numbers given to each Omega Speedmaster chronograph delivered to NASA
The National Air & Space Museum, NASA & Omega are still working on a final & correct listing of all NASA serial numbers for these watches...

In 1964 NASA received the watches to be tested and after qualification a first batch of (24 ?) Speedmasters was delivered on April 23, 1965
At the time of the Gemini project, NASA had selected 30 astronauts for Gemini ... later NASA groups were solely involved in Apollo & Skylab.

The year was 1965 and for the 5 Gemini missions (III, IV, V, VIa & VII) scheduled that year, a total of 13 astronauts were involved:
Grissom & Young, McDivitt & White, Cooper & Conrad, Borman & Lovell, Schirra & Stafford... with backup Armstrong, Collins and See...
For the 5 Gemini missions for the year 1966 (VIII, IX, X, XI & XII) another 8 rookie astronauts were involved:
Armstrong & Scott, Stafford & Cernan,Young & Collins, Conrad & Gordon, Lovell & Aldrin... with backup Anders, Bean and Williams
... So of 30 available astronauts, only 16 actually flew on Gemini missions and another 4 were selected as backup crew members...

A long story short... we're trying to get for each astronaut the NASA serial #number for the Speedmaster watches he received
Yes, watches in plural as several astronauts received a pair of Omega Speedmaster chronographs to be used in training & actual flight
...
55 years later, we're awaiting the final update !

 

[ConElPueblo]

@pseikotick, what is up with your posts, are they getting deleted or something?
It's pretty difficult keeping up with the discussion as it seems some of your posts have disappeared?

 

[pdxleaf]

I read somewhere (sorry but I don't remember where [and not being sarcastic]) that Michael Collins found out he had been wearing Armstrong's watch after they returned from their mission. The team had turned in their watches for service after return to earth and Armstrong's had mistakenly been given to Collins.

This seems to bolster the fact that NASA kept records of serial numbers as well as whose watch was assigned to whom. It also indicates that following the actual trail can be difficult and surprising.

Thank you to the contributors to this thread. I truly enjoy reading your thoughts and research. Respect for all you do.

 

[SpeedyPhill]

Undoubtfully NASA kept records of the watches given to each astronaut... at a certain moment in time, astronaut chief Donald "Deke" Slayton threatened those astronauts who didn't return their Speedmasters on time, to be grounded from using NASA's T-38 Talon jet fleet !
Well-known NASA serial numbers for Apollo 11 mission
Armstrong #46 ( 105.012-65 )
Aldrin #43 ( 105.012-65 )
Collins #73 ( 145.012-68 )

 

[Archer]

ConElPueblo

@pseikotick, what is up with your posts, are they getting deleted or something?
It's pretty difficult keeping up with the discussion as it seems some of your posts have disappeared?

I've asked the mods recently about this - they have indicated that they are not deleting them, so he's deleting them himself for whatever reason. Happens very frequently.

 

[ConElPueblo]

Archer

I've asked the mods recently about this - they have indicated that they are not deleting them, so he's deleting them himself for whatever reason. Happens very frequently.

Oh, I didn't even know we could do that.

@pseikotick - if you really are deleting your posts, please stop. It's pretty annoying and makes you seem like a bit of a dick.

 

[Eric304]

good stuff to know

 

[SpeedyPhill]

It looks like I might have to update the NASA plaque on my 1/6th Edward White figurine as it mentions 105.003-64 instead of 105.003-63

.

 

[AntonisCy]

Didn't know that a Moonwatch managed to survive the Apollo 1 disaster

 

[killer67]

ConElPueblo

@pseikotick, what is up with your posts, are they getting deleted or something?
It's pretty difficult keeping up with the discussion as it seems some of your posts have disappeared?

Hard to follow from the beginning with @pseikotick posts being deleted. Not sure why this happens in his responses across multiple threads

 

[AntonisCy]

pseikotick

Apologies for any deleted posts. It's a compulsion to keep things tidy, I think.
I will endeavor to refrain from posting or deleting. I didn't consider it was causing such consternation.
And I'm very sorry if my deletions made anyone's forum experience less enjoyable. That was never my intention.
I'm fairly new to the forum thing and am not well-versed in the proper etiquette.

With regard to this thread, once I realized there was no place for further "questions or discussion" on this topic, I was embarrassed to have shared my thoughts. I'm slow, but I can learn.

I guess that explains your "Likes" to "Posts" ratio

 

[SpeedyPhill]

AntonisCy

Didn't know that a Moonwatch managed to survive the Apollo 1 disaster

Indeed, I remember the "story" that Edward White could keep one Speedmaster used during his Gemini IV spacewalk... and that this watch stayed in the family... but I guess it's a "story" similar to the fact Grissom's wife kept his Gemini spacesuit... which ended up in a museum.

 

[Tophership]

This type of stuff is always so interesting to me. I also find it super interesting to think that these guys were making history many times over just in their own experiences/actions, and how something as insignificant to them as a tool watch would garner no much attention and adoration for generations to come.

I guess it just kinda goes to show how significant and groundbreaking something is based on how long it's talked about.

 

[SpeedyPhill]

Indeed @Tophership
55 years later a small bunch of Speedmaster enthusiasts at Omegaforums.net has been checking out every available bit of information:
https://omegaforums.net/threads/why-four-speedmaster-watches-on-gemini-4.114421/