1966... Gemini VIII splashdown & post recovery
March 17, 1966, Gemini VIII astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott pose with the divers of the US Navy recovery team.
The Gemini VIII mission was cut short after a docking problem with the unmanned Agena target rocket. Re-entry took place over China with splashdown 800 kilometers east of Okinawa.
Photo taken just before debarking USS Leonard F Mason in Naha harbor in Southern Japan.
Note Scott’s NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster on black velcro at his left wrist. During this mission, besides his NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster, Neil Armstrong also wore a Longines Lindberg big crown aviator watch which belonged to his childhood hero James "Jimmie" Mattern.
However, in the foreground, the Navy issued Tudor 7928 diving toolwatch on stainless steel bracelet at the wrist of the diver looks far more interesting!
(Photo: NASA)
Only a few examples are known of this extraordinarily rare work of military horological history. Commissioned by the U.S. Army Air Corps, designed by Longines Watch Company of Switzerland, the A-9 was the precursor of the modern Master Navigational Chronometer. Circa 1940
Jewelled Art Deco Pocket Watch. Manufactured by Longines, Swiss origin, dated ca. 1922-25. The façade is made up of diamonds, emeralds and platinum with onyx numbering. Loaned to the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum for their ‘The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s’ exhibition.
95 years ago... Aviatrix Amelia Earhart
In 1928, aviatrix Amelia Mary Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. As a passenger she kept the flight log onboard a Fokker Trimotor from Newfoundland USA to South Wales GB, a flight lasting 20 hours and 40 minutes.
In 1932, Earhart became the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic Ocean, piloting a single engine Lockheed Vega 5B. She flew from Newfoundland to Culmore in Northern Ireland, a solo flight lasting 14 hours, 56 minutes!
On both flights, Earhart relied on a white dial two-register Longines single pusher pilot chronograph. In 2010, this (still running) historic Longines chronograph was flown in space onboard the International Space Station by female NASA astronaut Shannon walker spending 163 days 7 hours in space!
An amazing initiative by the " Ninety-Nines " international organization of women pilots.
(Scan: MoonwatchUniverse)
(Photo: collectspace.com)