Timing Is Everything
Guys
As you may know, I get a daily email alert on Omega news worldwide. Sometimes it doesn't work as well :001_rolleyes:The following which appeared in the Huntsville Times was found by TZ member Christopher Meisenzahl and I'm sure you'll consider it to be of interest ( Thanks Chris ) -
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1201774544162280.xml&coll=1
In space, timing is everything
Thursday, January 31, 2008
By SHELBY G. SPIRES
Times Aerospace Writer
[email protected]
Astronauts recall precision, reliability of Omega watches
The surface of the moon or the inside of a spacecraft is no place to have to guess at the correct time.
For early NASA astronauts, knowing the exact time and how to use a stopwatch sometimes meant the difference between life and death, recalled retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom Stafford, a former astronaut.
"We used our Omega SpeedMaster watches mainly as backups to onboard clocks," said Stafford, a veteran of two Gemini missions, the Apollo 10 lunar module test flight to the moon and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. "It was there to back us up in timing spacecraft maneuvers, timing engine burns and firing retro (re-entry) rockets. They are very, very valuable and rugged watches, and they were absolutely an integral part of the space program."
Stafford will be part of "Conversations with the Real Space Cowboys" discussion at 11 a.m. today in the Von Braun Center sponsored by the Omega SA watch company. Omega watches similar to ones used by Gemini and Apollo astronauts are on display at the Davidson Center for Space Exploration, which opens to the public Feb. 9.
Stafford will be joined by Mercury veteran Scott Carpenter and retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles Duke, lunar module pilot on the Apollo 16 moon landing.
Former Skylab astronaut Dr. Owen Garriott of Huntsville agreed with his astronaut colleagues about the importance of accurate time.
"It's absolutely critical. You have to know precise information like time for operations when flying high-performance aircraft. It's even more critical in the harsh environment of space," said Garriott, who is not part of the Omega forum.
"On Skylab, we had numerous tasks and experiments that counted on our ability to mark time. Naturally, we did not have a wall clock on board a space station and we would refer to our wristwatches to monitor" daily tasks.
Early Mercury astronauts did not have an approved backup time piece. Onboard mission clocks were used to keep time during the short-duration Mercury missions that kept astronauts in space hours at a time.
Space flight got more and more complicated, and during the Gemini missions astronauts were spending several days, sometimes more than a week, orbiting the Earth, walking in space and docking with other spacecraft.
NASA's chief astronaut then, Deke Slayton, realized one standard, rigorously tested watch had to be found.
"Deke went around and bought up a variety of watches. Then he made sure NASA tested these watches in almost every conceivable environment you would see in space to see which one was best," Stafford said. "Omega was all around the best one for our needs."
The Omega SpeedMaster wristwatch was chosen by NASA in 1965 for astronauts because it combines a standard watch with a stopwatch function used to measure increments of time very precisely.
"It's not needed to time events down to the hundredths of a second. The human mind can't process that anyway," Stafford said. "It's really around the tenths of a second."
The stopwatch allowed astronauts to monitor engine firings and set them on the proper course for the moon, said Duke.
"Anything can and will sometimes go wrong," he said. "There could be a communications or power failure. One second off on an engine burn means you will slam into the lunar surface instead of touching down on it.
"Your life really depends on knowing and keeping the right time."
Duke used his watch to verify the proper countdown sequences when the lunar module engines were ignited, setting the lander on the moon with him and astronaut John Young on board.
"That watch is very robust. We had it strapped to our arms the whole time we were on the moon," Duke said. "The only time it didn't work right was because I had forgot to wind it on the surface of the moon. I wound it up and set the time and it kept working well."
The watches were worn by all the Apollo astronauts, including the 12 men who walked on the moon.
Stafford used an Omega on his 1975 Apollo-Soyuz link-up mission.
"The Soviets were so impressed with the watch that they went and bought them for their crews as well," he said.
More proof if needed that the Omega Speedmaster Professional was truly regarded by NASA and its' astronauts as being the watch to have.
Picture - omegawatches.com
Y'all have a nice day now pals
ZIN
