Chapters

Languages

THE FIRST SPEEDMASTER IN SPACE

1962

3 October

THE FIRST SPEEDMASTER IN SPACE

Nearly two and a half years before the OMEGA Speedmaster was qualified by NASA for all its manned space flights, astronaut Wally Schirra wore his own Speedmaster chronograph into space on the Mercury Sigma 7 mission. Flying into uncharted territory, Wally orbited the Earth six times in a mission that would last 9 hours, 13 minutes and 11 seconds.

As NASA’s space programme evolved, Schirra went on to record a remarkable 295 hours in space, aboard both Gemini and Apollo flights. On every one of these missions, he was accompanied by his OMEGA Speedmaster.

The OMEGA Speedmaster worn in space by Wally Schirra
The story of Omega