50 years Rolex in spaceflight

[MWU]

Depending on the definition of space, we can acknowledge that a Rolex wristwatch made it to "space" in 1967 as test pilot William "Pete" Knight flew the rocket-powered hypersonic research X-15 aircraft to an altitude of 281000 feet, being over 80 kilometers, qualifying X-15 flight 190 as a US spaceflight.
USAF test pilots earned their astronaut wings for flying above 50 miles ( 80 kilometers ) while the FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale) considers 100 kilometers as the boundary of space... Anyway Pete Knight wore his personal Rolex GMT-master Pepsi on both X-15 flights 190 (US spaceflight) and X-15 flight 188 being the highest Machnumber speed record at Mach 6.70 ( 7274 Km/Hr ).

Anyway, in April 1970 astronaut John "Jack" Swigert decided to wear his personal Rolex GMT-master on the Apollo 13 mission and this wristwatch surely became the first Rolex-in-space as the flight took thcrew around the Moon and back. After a safe return to Earth, Swigert offered this Apollo 13 flown GMT-master to Rolex CEO René Jeanneret adn got a Gold version in place. In his December 1971 official NASA astronaut portrait, we see Swigert posing in a white Apollo spacesuit wearing the Gold Rolex GMT-master (NASA photo number S71-52266).
On Apollo 14, January 1971, command module pilot Stuart Roosa wore a personal Rolex GMT-master and Apollo 14 lunar module pilot Edgar Mitchell even wore two personal Rolex GMT-master wristwatches, one on each wrist underneath the A7L Apollo space suit. Finally on Apollo 17, December 1972, command module pilot Ron Evans took his personal Rolex GMT-master in his PKK - Personal Preference Kit and asked Moonwalkers Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt to take the Rolex aboard lunar lander "Challenger" down to the lunar surface. This Rolex was auctioned in October 2009 and reached US $ 131000...
Since then, almost each type of Rolex wristwatch (DateJust, Daytona, Submariner, Sea-Dweller,...) have been used by astronauts on spaceflights, but that's for another post...

[MWU]

Some examples of (personal) Rolex wristwatches worn on spaceflight missions during the Space Shuttle era:
1989: Rolex Daytona 6263 by astronaut Michael McCulley on STS-34 shuttle Atlantis
1989: Rolex DateJust by astronaut Sonny Carter on STS-33 shuttle Discovery
1991: Rolex GMT-master Pepsi by astronaut Lloyd Hammond on STS-39 shuttle Discovery
1994: Rolex GMT-master Pepsi by astronaut Leroy Chiao on STS-65 shuttle Columbia
1998: Rolex Submariner by astronaut Dafydd Williams on STS-90 shuttle Columbia
2007: Rolex Sea-Dweller by astronaut Dafydd Williams on STS-118 shuttle Endeavour
...
The latter diving toolwatches were also used on NASA scientific dives in Acquarius undersea lab in NEEMO - NASA Extreme Environment Missions Operations off Key Largo at the coast of Florida.
Photos of all these spaceflight missions can be seen by using Google and search for " MoonwatchUniverse "

[MWU]

Trying to add a direct weblink: https://moonwatchuniverse.tumblr.com/archive