3-2-1 3x11 “Holidays Abroad” ★★★★★★★★☆☆

March 8, 1966 last time we clearly saw the “Sigma 7” FOIS ?
Mercury 7 astronaut US Navy aviator Walter “Wally” Schirra and his personal 1961 Omega Speedmaster CK2998-4, 17.650.054, worn during Sigma 7, used for SCUBA diving, bezelless since 1965, last seen on his wrist in 1966.
Collage of a bespoke artwork for MoonwatchUniverse, LIFE photos of Schirra diving in his pool and Schirra at a handprint ceremony during the 1966 Gemini World Tour at the NASA Carnarvon tracking station near Perth - Australia.
Between 22 February and March 1966, Walter Schirra and Frank Borman visited 8 countries during their 24 days long Far East Gemini Goodwill tour, visiting Australia between March 7 - 12.
The Australians had rolled out two plum-colored Rolls-Royce convertibles procured for an earlier visit by Queen Elizabeth II in 1963. At Carnarvon, Schirra rolling up his sleeves clearly showed the bezelless Speedmaster CK2998-4.
October 1966 onwards, as Schirra, Stafford and Lovell were awarded a US Navy logo dial Rolex GMT-master 1675 pilot watch, Schirra preferred to wear the Rolex GMT-master, also his Rolex Daytona 6240 and occasionally his Gold Apollo 11 tribute Speedmaster n° 8.
Since 1994, MoonwatchUniverse has been working on a dozen “astronaut case studies” using official press & NASA photographs in order to find out when well-known NASA astronauts (Aldrin, Armstrong, Borman, Carpenter, Cernan, Collins, Lovell, Mitchell, Shepard, Schirra, Swigert, White) were introduced to the Omega Speedmaster and perhaps more interesting what they wore before those days during NASA training…
(Photos: NASA/LIFE)

Remembering Gordon “Gordo” Cooper
March 6, 1927 was Cooper’s birthday, who became a US Air Force pilot in 1949, attended test pilot school in 1956 and was selected a NASA astronaut in April 1959.
In March 1963, Cooper was photographed wearing his personal Omega Speedmaster CK2998-4 during NASA training. Besides Donald “Deke” Slayton and Walter “Wally” Schirra, Cooper was the third “Mercury 7” astronaut wearing an Omega Speedmaster CK2998.
During MA-9 “Faith 7” (May 20, 1963) and Gemini V (August 21, 1965), Cooper wore a manual winding Omega Speedmaster wrist chronograph and a battery-powered tuning-fork movement Accutron Astronaut GMT pilot watch.
Note , at the 20th anniversary of his “Faith 7” mission, USAF Colonel Gordo Cooper still wore an Omega Speedmaster wrist chronograph on a lightweight mesh steel Jacoby Bender Champion bracelet.
(Photos: NASA/Newsweek)

Submission by anonymous

3-2-1 3x10 “Cabaret” ★★★★★★★★☆☆

I am Three

‎ I am three
The leaves everyone sees
The trunk for those which are close
And the roots which are solely mine
I long to crawl out of the dirt
Roots
filled
with
love
To one

ok. shes kinnnddda cute. sometimes

55 years ago… USAF Colonel Edwin Aldrin.
In May 1951, Edwin Eugene Aldrin graduated from the US Military Academy in West Point NY and choose to be commissioned as a pilot officer in the US Air Force.
In October 1963, Aldrin was selected a NASA astronaut in Group 3 and flew on Gemini XII (November 1966) and Apollo 11 (July 1969), accumulating 12 days 1 hour in space.
In July 1971, Aldrin returned to the US Air Force and became Commandant of the Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards AFB - California.
On March 1, 1972 Edwin Aldrin retired as a USAF Colonel and the colour portrait shows him wearing a Hamilton Mickey Mouse dial wrist watch.
In 2017, Lima watches brought out a commemorative version of the Mickey Mouse watch.
Between April 1965 and October 1968, NASA purchased 97 Omega Speedmaster chronographs to be issued to the manned spaceflight program. Aldrin, selected in 1963, had to wait until 1966 to get his NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 105.003-64 but wore a Speedmaster 105.012-65 during Apollo 11. This NASA-issued Speedmaster S/N 43 became the first watch worn on the Moon as Aldrin wore it on his righthand wrist over the space suit.
Unfortunately this historic time piece S/N 43 was lost in transit between NASA and the NASM in Washington D.C.
On May 5, 2023, Aldrin received an honorary promotion to USAF Brigadier General.
(Photo: US Air Force)

3-2-1 3x03 “Circus” ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Daïm Al-Yad’s Thereidoscope #321 is a mesmerizing journey into the heart of a single living form, its biomorphic essence unfolding in an eternal dance of light and shadow. As an Art Blocks Playground series, it invites you to touch the depths of mathematical beauty.

50 years ago… on this date
1976, January 1, US Air Force Colonel Apollo 16 LMP Charles “Charlie” Duke retired from NASA.
Selected a NASA astronaut in Group 5 (The Original Nineteen - April 1966), Duke had to wait almost five years before being issued a Speedmaster wrist chronograph.
During Apollo 16, Duke stayed 71 hours on the Moon, performing three EVAs becoming the tenth and also youngest Moonwalker.
The incident with his NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 105.012-66 S/N 54, hesalite plexiglass pop-off during EVA-3, is well-described in the official A16 mission report.
Promoted USAF Brig General in 1979, Duke became an Omega ambassador in 2017 and fulfills this task with great success to this day.
(Photo: NASA portrait S71-51288)

3-2-1 3x01 “Christmas Pantomine” ★★★★★★★★★☆

55 years ago… NASA official astronaut WSS portraits
During the last week of December 1970, NASA decided to make WSS - White Space Suit portraits of those active astronauts who still didn’t have such an official portrait.
Although taken in late December 1971, these official NASA photo series were in the photo number S71- range ( S71-52260 to S71-52284): e.g. S71-52262 = Jack Lousma.
Note Swigert wore a Gold Rolex GMT-master 1675, Robert Parker & Donald Holmquest a Benrus 3818b and last but not least Joe Engle a NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 105.003.
After 4 years in an operational fighter squadron, Joe Engle became a test pilot flying the hypersonic X-15 being selected in 1966 as a NASA astronaut, supporting Apollo 10 & 14.
Thus far, Engle remains one of two people to have flown into space on two different types of winged vehicles, the X-15 and the space shuttle orbiter, totalling 250 hours in space.
In total, between 1965 and 1986, US Air Force Colonel Joe Engle had ten official portraits, in three of which he wore his NASA-issued Speedmaster 105.003 chronograph (e.g. S86-26417).
(Photo: NASA S71-52272)

321/365 - Too Soon

November 17, 2025

I woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow. It disappeared quickly…but was a reminder that winter is coming 🫤

…😇

3-2-1 2x12 “Music Hall” ★★★★★★★★☆☆