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21 February 2010

OMEGA’s Pioneering Spirit event: the original space cowboys in Vancouver. Solar Impulse aviation innovators also join the celebration

Three of the NASA’s most storied astronauts were guests of honour at a cocktail party hosted by OMEGA in their lounge on the 14th floor of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver on Sunday evening. Buzz Aldrin, Tom Stafford and Eugene Cernan were joined by Solar Impulse founders and co-pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg.

Before the festivities began, the astronauts and pilots posed for photographs with OMEGA president Stephen Urquhart at the brand’s boutique in the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver and in the OMEGA bobsleigh located in front of the Official Countdown Clock in downtown Vancouver.
Invited guests included skeleton racer Amy Williams, who in Vancouver became the first athlete from Great Britain to win an individual Olympic Winter Games gold medal in thirty years and rower Sir Steve Redgrave who won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games between 1984 and 2000.
Three legendary astronauts

Buzz Aldrin was the second man to walk on the Moon and when he stepped onto the lunar surface in July of 1969, the OMEGA Speedmaster strapped to his spacesuit became the first watch to be worn on the Moon. Eugene Cernan, who commanded Apollo 17, was the last human being to leave a footprint on the Moon. Thomas Stafford’s four missions included the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project which celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. All three astronauts are OMEGA brand ambassadors.

Around the world in an airplane powered only by the sun

The Solar Impulse project founded by Piccard and Borschberg has the goal of circumnavigating the Earth in an airplane powered only by the sun. Based in Dübendorf, near Zurich in Switzerland, the Solar Impulse prototype took off recently powered by its own engines. OMEGA is a Main Partner in the Solar Impulse project, providing technological and capital support.

Pioneering visionaries in Vancouver

OMEGA president Stephen Urquhart said that the astronauts and the Solar Impulse pilots perfectly defined his brand’s pioneering spirit. "We’ve been involved with NASA for well over forty years and the Speedmaster played a key role in all six lunar landings. Now, with Bertrand and André, we’re looking beyond the Moon to the sun. Solar Impulse is positioned to help reduce our dependency on non-renewable energy sources. It’s an honour to welcome these five pioneering visionaries to Vancouver."

OMEGA – Official Timekeeper at 24 Olympic Games

OMEGA is serving as Official Olympic Timekeeper for the 24th time since 1932 at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. In September of 2009, the Swiss watchmaker extended its agreement with the International Olympic Committee through 2020.