Peahat Its weak point is its roots!
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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)
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Remembering USAF Colonel NASA astronaut Frank Borman
During the December month in 1965 and 1968, Frank Borman (1928-2023) flew his two spaceflight missions, Gemini VII (1965) and Apollo 8 (1968) the first manned mission to fly around the Moon, bringing humanity the blue Earth rise photograph.
An USMA West Point graduate, Borman was selected as NASA astronaut in 1962, and served 8 years with NASA before becoming advisor at Eastern Airlines in late 1969.
In this 1983 photo, Frank Borman combined a steel Rolex oyster bracelet with an Omega Speedmaster chronograph… the best of both worlds?
(Photo: AP/MWU collection)
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Cure Parfait from KiraKira☆Pretty Cure A La Mode
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Apollo-Soyuz… 50 years ago!
A last & final post to commemorate half-a-century since the historic Apollo Soyuz Test Project mission of the summer 1975.
July 1975, during ASTP, a total of 10 Omega Speedmaster chronographs were flown, the three astronauts each wore two 321 versions, the two cosmonauts each wore two 861 versions, with Leonov carrying a third Omega flightmaster in his personal kit. A record-number of 10 Omega Speedmaster at the same time in space, a record that stood until December 1990, when a box set of 10 Omega Speedmaster chronographs was carried to the Mir space station with Soyuz TM-11. This box set became known as the “90 days on Mir set” and during that period a total of 14 Omega Speedmasters were at the same time in space.
Thus far the record of most Omega Speedmaster chronographs being simultaneously in space remains the period July 1993-July 1994 when Soyuz TM-17 crew carried a box set of 35 Omega Speedmaster chronographs to the Mir space station. This “One year on Mir set” box contained twenty-eight steel and seven Gold Speedmaster chronographs, the only space-flown Gold versions, thus not on the wrist of spacefarers.
Together with resident cosmonauts a total of 37 Omega Speedmaster chronographs orbited the Earth simultaneously, a record that stands to this day!
1976 saw an amazing commemorative ASTP Speedmaster, the best ever produced but that’s for another time…
(Photo: moonwatchuniverse)
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“[…] il bene non deriva sempre dalle buone azioni, né le cattive azioni hanno sempre un effetto negativo, […].”
Il cardellino — Donna Tartt
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1969, February 14… Apollo 9 press briefing
At the Kennedy Space Center – Florida, Apollo 9 LMP Russell “Rusty” Schweickart briefed the press about the spacesuit for his upcoming spacewalk. For the very first time, Apollo 9 tested both the North American Aviation Command Module and the Grumman Lunar Module in Low Earth Orbit. Schweickart’s spacewalk would demonstrate an emergency transfer between both spacecraft. It was the last spacewalk before the Apollo 11 lunar-EVA in July 1969.
Due to a construction delay at Grumman, the original Apollo 8 & 9 missions were swapped.
By December 1968, Rusty Schweickart had completed vacuum testing the space suit portable life support chest- and backpack hardware in the altitude chamber of the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory at MSC Houston Texas.
Note on the white Velcro strap the battered NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 105.012 chronograph which was missing the lower push button. We know that some of the NASA-issued Speedmaster chronographs were solely used in astronaut training, n° 24 being the best-knwon example!
(Photos: NASA)
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50 years ago… ASTP training
1975 January 29 to February 26, the eight prime and backup Soviet cosmonauts training for ASTP - Apollo-Soyuz Test Project joined with U.S. prime and backup astronauts in the U.S. to continue joint training at KSC – Merritt island Florida and JSC - Houston Texas.
The cosmonauts, Alekseï Leonov, Valery Kubasov, Anatoli Filipchenko, Nikolay Rukavishnikov, Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Boris Andreyev, Yuri Romanenko, and Aleksandr Ivanchenkov visited the launch complex and VAB at KSC FL before heading to JSC in Houston TX. Joint training focused on further language course, docking procedures in the simulator and contingencies.
In Florida, Alekseï Leonov always wore his Omega Flightmaster while in Texas he most often wore an Omega Speedmaster chronograph. Remarkably, NASA astronauts Thomas Stafford and Alan Bean wore their Gold “Apollo 11 tribute” Omega Speedmaster BA 145.022-69.
During the July 1975 ASTP mission, a total of 11 Omega Speedmaster chronographs were worn as the 2 cosmonauts each wore two 861 references and the 3 astronauts each wore two 321 references. Leonov carried a third Speedmaster in his personal kit.
(Photo: NASA)
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Omega ex-Alaska Project II Speedmaster…
December 1977, the 2nd Soviet-Russian Soyuz mission to the brand new Salyut-6 space station. A major innovation was the fact the space station had two docking ports, allowing two craft to visit simultaneously, being a manned Soyuz or unmanned logistics Progress spacecraft. The Soviet-Russian space program equiped Salyut-6 with the latest technology such as the brand new Orlan EVA - spacewalk spacesuits supplemented with the ultimate space wrist watches.
Since in 1973 the Soviet-Russians visited Omega HQ, cosmonauts have always been interested in the more bulky flightmaster & Speedmaster chronographs. The first Omega in space on Russian side was aboard Soyuz 14 in July 1974, the Speedmaster followed aboard Soyuz 16 in December 1974.
However, by the summer of 1977 the Soviet-Russian space agency had ordered a pair of the ultimate Omega Speedmaster chronographs by fax and two ex-Alaska Project II Speedmaster chronographs with distinctive red outer case made it to StarCity and Baikonour launchsite.
Join MoonwatchUniverse during our end-of-year season GTG with lectures on how the Omega Speedmaster got behind the Iron Curtain and into the Soviet-Russian space program!
(Photos: TASS photo-collage MWU)
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