#radial dial

1976, August 23 As NASA ended the Apollo era, the agency's Space Shuttle Program office approved a STS-program requirements document for the purchase of astronaut wrist chronographs. Omega complied to the "Buy American" act by outsourcing watch case production to the Star Watch company so this portion of the American production of the watch passed the minimum requirement, which meant the Speedmaster was once again cleared for procurement. By 1978, the Omega Speedmaster again came out as the best chronograph and in October NASA received 56 Omega Speedmaster 145.022-78 "radial dial" chronographs. These were used from 1981 (STS-2) to 1995 (STS-73) and despite astronauts' feedback these "Alaska Project III" did not come with a practical "60 seconds" bezel. Not counting the analog/digital Speedmaster X-33, NASA had less manual winding Speedies for the STS-program than it had for the 1965-1975 manned spaceflight programs. (photo: NASA)

30 years ago... Last EVA Omega "Alaska III" Speedmaster September 1993, after a decade of spacewalk usage of the 4750 spacesuit glove series with sewn-in integrated Omega Speedmaster in the righthand glove, NASA started to use the Phase VI series gloves and NASA astronauts no longer wore a Speedmaster during EVA - spacewalks! During the 6th spaceshuttle flight, the 1st for "Challenger", NASA astronauts performed the first EVA - spacewalk wearing an Omega Speedmaster since the Skylab days of 1974! On this 4 hours long EVA, both Story Musgrave and Donald Peterson wore an Omega Alaska III "Radial Dial" Speedmaster chronograph, which was sewn-in the outer layer of their righthand spacesuit glove. This kind of spacesuit gloves was used for ten years, up to STS-51 “Discovery” in September 1993. From then on, NASA astronauts didn't wear the Speedmaster any longer for EVAs, but the Russian cosmonauts did, strapped over their Orlan spacesuits until 2022. Overall, the radial dial Speedmaster was worn in space between November 1981 (STS-2) and October 1995 (STS-73). Photos show NASA astronaut Story Musgrave in the cargo bay of orbiter “Challenger” wearing the EMU - Extravehicular Mobility Unit, with the Speedmaster sewn-in the extra pocket of the righthand glove’s outer TMG - Thermal Micrometeor Garment layer. (Photo: NASA)

April 7, 1983 ... Omega Speedmaster on US-EVA NASA astronauts Story Musgrave and Donald Peterson performed the first ever EVA spacewalk of the STS Space Shuttle program onboard orbiter "Challenger" mission STS-6. It was the first NASA EVA since the Skylab-4 space station mission almost ten years earlier in February 1974. Both astronauts wore the Omega "radial dial" Alaska III project Speedmaster chronograph during their 4 hours 10 minutes long spacewalk in Challenger's cargo bay. In 1978, this “radial dial” Speedmaster was requalified as the official chronograph for the new space shuttle era. (Photos: NASA)