#splash-down

1971 ... USS Okinawa & Apollo 15 splash-down August 7, 1971 a crew member of the US Navy Underwater Demolition team checking a spear point with shark repellent onboard the USS Okinawa amphibious assault / helicopter carrier in the northern Pacific Ocean. The Apollo 15 capsule, carrying an all USAF-crew David Scott, James Irwin & Alfred Worden, splashed down less than 7 miles from the USS Okinawa with immediate recovery operations. Note the Tudor 7928 diving watch, an indispensable tool used by US Navy divers at that time! (Photo: NASA/US Navy)

50 years ago... December 19, 1972 Splash-down & recovery for the last manned lunar landing spaceflight mission as Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt left the “America” capsule in the Pacific Ocean. About 50 minutes later the crew was safely onboard recovery ship, aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga. Apollo 17... only a beginning! (Photo: MoonwatchUniverse)

Movado Datron HS360... First automatic chronograph in space ! 46 years ago, on November 16, 1973, the third and final manned Skylab space station mission  SL-4 was launched. Each of the Skylab-4 astronauts took an extra wristwatch up to NASA’s space station, with William Pogue’s Seiko Automatic 6139 as the best-known example. However, SL-4 commander US Marine Corps LtCol Gerald Carr was seen wearing a blue dial reverse panda Movado Datron HS360 chronograph during training in 1972/1973 and this February 8, 1974 splashdown-recovery photo suggests he took this Movado Datron ChronoDiver chronograph aboard the SL-4 mission between November 1973 and February 1974… (Photo: NASA)

August 7, 1971 Apollo 15 crew members addressed personnel onboard USS Okinawa after splash-down and recovery in the North Pacific Ocean. Commander David Scott was holding a Moon rock brought back from the Hadley Rille lunar region and expressed his wish that Apollo 15 samples will answer scientists’ questions about the origin of our Moon, Earth’s natural satellite. Note David Scott was still wearing the Bulova 885104 prototype chronograph he wore since lunar EVA-3 on a long Moondust clad velcro strap. Fellow astronauts James Irwin and Alfred Worden seated behind him. (Photo: US Navy)