#baikonour

42 years ago... Soyuz 39 and Intercosmos Mongolia The March 1981 Soyuz 39 flight marked the eighth Intercosmos mission, this time with research cosmonaut Zhugderdemidiyn "Gurr" Gurragcha, the very first cosmonaut from Mongolia. It was the 2nd spaceflight for cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov as the crew stayed onboard the Salyut-6 space station conducting scientific experiments during a 7 days 20 hours mission. Note that Vladimir Dzhanibekov wore an Omega Speedmaster 861 chronograph underneath his Sokol spacesuit, a wristwatch he received in late 1973 as a support cosmonaut for the historic ASTP Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. (Photo: TASS/Roscosmos)

July 1974, the Soyuz 14 crew, cosmonauts Yuri Artyukhin and Pavel Popovich on the Baikonour launchpad ready for their 14-days mission aboard the Salyut 3 space station. Flight engineer Artyukhin wore an Omega Flightmaster cal 911 chronograph, which was auctioned at Heritage Auctions in 2016 for US $ 13750. (Photo: RKA/TASS)

Soyuz MS22 to the ISS... again no Speedmaster ? September 21, 2022 and again not a manual winding Omega Speedmaster in sight for the Soyuz MS-22 crew (ISS Exp 68)... normally each Soyuz crewmember used to wear a Speedmaster chronograph strapped over the left forearm. Looks like they all wore wrist watches underneath the Sokol space suit, so probable an Omega X-33 but especially personal choices! Inset shows detail of the metal bracelet worn by cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev making his 2nd spaceflight. (Photo: Roscosmos/NASA)

1989, September 5 … Soyuz TM-8 to the Mir space station The Soyuz TM-8 cosmonauts arrived at Mir after 5 months during which the station was  uninhabited and prepared to receive the Kvant-2 science module, which had an airlock. Cosmonauts Aleksandr Viktorenko and Aleksandr Serebrov performed 5 EVAs - spacewalks during their 166 days 6 hours stay onboard Mir. Aleksandr Viktorenko wore a grey dial Russian Poljot 3133 chronograph and a Casio DBC610 electronic calculator quartz, while Aleksandr Serebrov wore a Yema Spationaute III and an Omega Speedmaster chronograph. (Photo: TASS)

FORTIS Friday ... Official Cosmonauts Chronographs Since 1994, Russian cosmonauts have worn the FORTIS Automatic chronograph dubbed “Official Cosmonauts Chronograph Automatic” on the dial of this Swiss chronograph toolwatch made in Grenchen - Switserland. During the first mission, TM-19, the FORTIS chronographs were used during two spacewalks totalling 11 hours 5 minutes, working flawlessly being exposed to the harsh outer space environment. Taking a closer look at FORTIS reveals that the chronographs appeared in official Soyuz crew photos since 1994 with the NASA STS-71 astronauts/cosmonauts crew portrait for the first docking between the space shuttle and the Russian space station Mir. Thus far FORTIS chronographs have been worn in space by spacefarers of 4 different nations during at least 25 missions! The most recent crew photo showing a FORTIS chronograph was 2021 Soyuz MS-19 at the wrist of Anton Shkpalerov. (Photo: MoonwatchUniverse)

Soyuz 38 to Salyut-6... Latin-American in space! On September 18, 1980 the Soyuz 38 crew was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the Salyut-6 space station. It was the seventh Interkosmos mission, this time flying a cosmonaut from Cuba, Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez together with commander Yuri Romanenko who made his second spaceflight. Romanenko was an experienced Air Force pilot who went on to make 3 spaceflight missions and became director of the Russian Buran shuttle program. Tamayo Mendez was the first hispanophone, Caribbean and person from African descent to fly in space. As a Cuban Air Force pilot, he had chosen to wear his personal Seiko Bell Matic Daydate wristwatch. Romanenko wore his Omega 861 Speedmaster chronograph, which he received as a support-cosmonaut on ASTP in 1973-74 . (Photo: TASS)

December 8, 2021... a Richard Mille time piece in space. Soyuz MS-20 launched with Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Misurkin (3rd spaceflight) and two japanese space participants, 36 years old Yozo Hirano and 46 years old Yusaku Maezawa.  Both “Space tourists” travel via Soyuz & Space Adventures to the ISS... Besides the usual Omega Speedmaster chronograph, it looks like Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa wore a personal Richard Mille RM 27-02 Nadal version wristwatch. With thanks to the SWFG, as far as we know, the very first Richard Mille wrist watch in space! However, the record for the most expensive wrist watch remains the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak grande complication black chronograph worn by Canadian spaceflight participant Guy Laliberté during Soyuz TMA-16 in September 2009. (Photo: TASS/EPA/SpaceAdventures)