It was 35 years ago today -
(4 June 1965 - 4 June 2000)
Written by Chuck Maddox  (cmaddox@xnet.com) on 4 June, 2000, certain rights reserved.
Last Revised: 4 June, 2000, 5:01 GMT.
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Edward H. White, II
   

It was 35 years ago today that Edward H. White II opened his hatch on the Gemini 4 Spacecraft and began a 22 minute spacewalk, the first spacewalk by an American. Strapped to the outside of his EVA Spacesuit was an Omega Speedmaster Chronograph, the first wristwatch worn into outer space.
 
I realize that there may be some contention on this point. However, no one had previously worn a watch outside of a Spacecraft while in orbit, (exposed to the harsh temperatures and vacuum of outer space) prior to White's walk. (See the Time Line I have prepared below...)
Above: The author's copy of "A Time Capsule" book, a Gemini 4 Mission patch, the Author's Omega Speedmaster ST105.003, and a Fisher Space Pen.

Note: The Gemini 4 mission patch was worn on the spacesuits but kept covered until after the sucessful completion of the spacewalk. To my knowledge the only other time that a mission patch was keep secret was for Gemini 5 when it's "8 days or bust" was also kept secret and covered until the completion of it's mission after the crew was aboard the rescue helicopter.
Upon being told it was time for him to return to the capsule Mission Control and the whole world listening in on the open audio channel heard him sigh, "It's the saddest moment of my life.". The Gemini 4 mission had started the previous day and would end on 7 June 1965 after a flight lasting over 4 days, and 62 orbits, three times the length of the longest previous American space flight.
 
Later, upon seeing the pictures in and on the cover of Life magazine, Omega realized that White was wearing a Speedmaster prompting them to re-christen the Omega Speedmaster as the "Omega Speedmaster Professional" shortly thereafter...
 
I'd like to take the opportunity on this, the 35th anniversary of Ed White's space walk to personally thank the Astronauts, support personnel and they're families for their efforts and sacrifices in regard to the Space program.
 
I am confident that Ed White would have been proud and amazed at the achievements that Manned spaceflight made in the 10 years following his spacewalk, However, I believe he would be disappointed and saddened at how little we have progressed in the past 25 years... It is my belief that we should do more to explore space and support the efforts of those working towards those ends.
 
-- Chuck Maddox (mailto:cmaddox@xnet.com)
 
Photo Source: NASA History Website.
Wristwatches in Space - A Time Line (through Gemini 4):
 
1961 April 12: Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space and the first to orbit, while wearing a Soviet State-Mandated Sturmanskije manual-wind 23 Jewel chronograph made with Omega tooling in the Poljot watch factory. While these watches were reliable and accurate enough, Russian cosmonauts later coveted the Omega Speedmaster worn by their American rivals.
 
1962 May 24: Scott Carpenter wore the first Swiss made watch aboard a spacecraft when he wore a Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaut while piloting his Aurora 7 spacecraft for 3 orbits around the earth. He was the fourth American in space. Note: The first three American astronauts were given the option to wear a watch and either declined to do so or the watches that they wore were not recorded). John Glenn declined to wear a watch, and Alan Sheppard and Virgil (Gus) Grissom have since passed away.
 
1962 October 3: Wally Schirra wore an Omega Speedmaster on his Sigma 7 flight which completed 6 orbits of the earth. This was the first spaceflight for the Speedmaster. There has been an Omega Speedmaster aboard every American Spaceflight ever since...
 
1963 May 15: Gordon Cooper flight-tested both an Omega Speedmaster and a Bulova Accutron Astronaut (First American watch in space) during his 22 orbit Faith 7 flight. Cooper would later write "The Omega Speedmaster was selected by the Mercury Astronauts as a chronograph... it won over all the competition by a wide margin".
 
1964 September 21: Donald "Deke" Slayton, director of flight crew operations, outlined specifications for a flight crew chronograph in a letter drafted on this date. As a result six waterproof, shock-proof, anti-magnetic chronographs were purchased from a Houston Jewelers (Rolex, Longines, and Omega were the manufacturers of these chronographs). The end result was the adoption of the Omega Speedmaster as the offical flight crew watch for American space missions.
 
1965 March 18: Alexei Leonov performs the first spacewalk during the Soviet Voskhod 2 mission. It is unknown, but assumed that while Leonov probably wore a chronograph similar to the one that Gagarin wore in 1961 inside his spacesuit, none of the photographs or movies taken of Leonov's spacewalk show a watch worn outside of the spacesuit. Note: Leonov later would be a member of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Flight (ASTP) and wore an Omega Flightmaster during the ASTP...
 
1965 June 4: Ed White becomes the first American to walk in space with an Omega Speedmaster ST105.003 (c.321) velcro-strapped to the outside of his EVA suit. The Omega Speedmaster becomes the first watch to be worn into outer space. The photograph on the cover of Life magazine made the Speedmaster instantly recognizable. "Omega didn't even know that NASA was using the watch until they saw that photo" -- James Lovell, Gemini 7 & 12, and Apollo 8 & 13.
 

Photo Source: NASA History Website.
Sources:

* TZ Classic 667 states that " Speedmasters were strapped on both crews of the American and Russian crew"... This appears to be in error as Alexei Leonov is pictured in "Time Capsule" book wearing his Flightmaster during this mission. While it is possible that Leonov also wore a Speedmaster I tend to believe the photograph is correct...


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