Quite often we find great stuff from watchmaking history on our own, of course, but a lot of the time we get help from readers too and in this case, a reader shared something with us in the comments that was so good we just wanted to make sure no one missed it. Here it is: NASA archival footage, via Spacecraft Films, showing LEM pilot Ed Mitchell putting on what looks like a Rolex GMT Master under the inner cuff of his space suit (skip ahead to 4:58 in the video).
Reader "Refractor Phil" commented, "This January 1971 Apollo 14 video shows astronaut-Lunar Module pilot Edgar Mitchell putting on extra watches underneath his spacesuit during suit up procedures for the third Lunar mission to land on the Moon. It looks like a Rolex on each arm tugged underneath the fire resistant long underwear sleeves . . . "
The Apollo 14 crew – Commander Alan Shepard, Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell – might have had butterflies in their stomachs after the close call of the preceding aborted Apollo 13 mission, but they look all business in the video and the nine-day mission went off without a hitch, famously including an interlude on the lunar surface, where Alan Shepard knocked a couple of golf balls around. We've seen stills of Mitchell's GMT Master before but never run across this footage, which is just a great piece of living history. Mitchell passed away at the age of 85 just last February – the last surviving member of the Apollo 14 crew – and we can't help but wonder what might have happened to his Rolex. Hit us up in the comments if you have any ideas!
No comments:
Post a Comment