interview Hurrah for Schirra spoke with International Watch just two months before his death. Schirra notably wore the first in space during his 1962 Mercury flight, the first of many missions for the so-called “moonwatch.”

Apollo 7 mission patch. Right: Wally Schirra (NASA Photo)

intage chronograph collector Chuck Maddox spoke with Astronaut Walter “Wally” Schirra for In- ternational Watch on February 17th in Los Angeles. The meeting, made with assistance from Omega’s VU.S. office in Weehawken, NJ, occurred just a few months before Schirra died of natural causes at the age of 84 on May 2. It was likely among his last face-to-face interviews. Schirra was one of the original Mercury mission and is the only astronaut to have flown Mer- cury, Gemini and Apollo missions. He was selected as commander of Apollo VII to put NASA’s lunar program bacvk on track after the Apollo I disaster. Schirra logged a total of 295 hours and 15 minutes in space. He teamed with CBS anchorman as a commentator for that network’s space program coverage from 1969 to 1975.

Chuck: Are you a watch collector? Hall of Fame on the 100th an- and I flew the first Omega. We Wally: Not really, I have about niversary of Aviation. All the had actually bought our own seven or eight though. A classic honorees who were brought in Omegas. And then Gordon Coo- one, Vacheron Constantin, from got a watch from Breitling. Well, per flew an Omega after me and Bob Hope, I have this gorgeous we had more fun when we came then they [NASA] made it official one from Omega [a 1969 Special back from the Smithsonian. Ev- for Gemini. edition, one of the first 28 given erybody was all shook up when to astronauts on duty from 1969 we finally found out that John Chuck: Since you were the first to 1972; 39 were made]. And I Glenn flew a Heuer stopwatch person to wear a Speedmaster into have a Breitling that they gave (see iW, November 2006, pp. space, were you aware of how the me at the National Aviation 122-130). Scott flew a Breitling, Omega was brought into NASA?

150 www.iwmagazine.com JULY 2007INTERNATIONAL WATCH Hurrah for Schirra

Apollo 16LM pilot Charlie Duke, Chuck Maddox and Wally Schirra. Right: Dauphine hand Speedmaster similar to Schirra’s “first flown” Speedmaster. Wally’s original is on display through 2010 at the in Houston.

Did you bring it in or was it some- Chuck: ...about 1961? one else? Wally: Well, that’d have to Wally: Well they [NASA] saw be, well the mission was a… it. and I were both probably early 1962. working on the mission and Deke was replaced and Chuck: Did anyone other than into the took that mission. I took the next you and Deke [Slayton] have any spacecraft, before mission. So Deke had an Omega input into the selection? we tied up everything, we’d ad- and I had an Omega. We bought Wally: Well Gus [Grissom] did vance the stopwatch to twenty them, and NASA had noth- too, because he was one of us. seconds. And then after liftoff, ing to do with it, we just bought Sheppard and Grissom didn’t fly they’d say “Standby – Mark!” and them and checked them. We with any watches. you’d start the watch again because took them to the Cape and Pan you were too busy with hands on American Airlines was the cus- Chuck: Right! switches to start the watch then. todian of all the technical stuff at Wally: That’s the other interest- Chuck: And you’re all set and be- the Cape. They took the watches ing part. So the first one up actu- ing pushed down by the thrust of and made them super-accurate. ally was Glenn with that Heuer the rocket. All six different positions, and I’d stopwatch. That’s in the museum Wally: Shepard said, “liftoff clock go into mission control and say in [Air and Space Mu- has started”, but that was the clock “Hmmm… your clock is off about seum], by the way. on the instrument panel. two seconds!” This was before the atomic clocks were out and Chuck: “The clock is ticking”, Chuck: Right. so we had a lot of fun with that. yeah. [Referring to the caption Wally: In my case it was liftoff, I Well, after that, I flew it [the of the display in the museum forget how the sequence went, it Speedmaster] and Cooper flew it, in San Diego]. Was there any was all written out, but at T plus 20 they said, “we might as well make special training on how to use seconds I started the stopwatch. this regulation.” the chronographs? Wally: No, we worked with them Chuck: What other timers were Chuck: Great, when did this so much, there are all kinds of pic- there on board? Were there panel first happen, when you and Deke tures of us playing with them. The mounts? Stopwatches? bought your watches? real key was presetting them to T Wally: There was a panel mount Wally: In Houston. plus 20 seconds. Before we got that could be updated from the

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Left: Schirra prepares to exit Gemini VI capsule aboard recovery carrier USS Wasp. (NASA) Above: (front row) joins with Gemini “new” Nine. Schirra is seated front and center while Tom Stafford, Schirra’s Gemini VI pilot, stands second from right, back row. (NASA photo) Chuck: Were there other Chuck: Was there any specific stopwatches? tasks or events that went to a spe- Wally: That was it. Well, Cooper cific timing device. For example, took a second watch because he did you time burns with your stop- was up for over 24 hours. watch [or the Speedmaster]. Wally: Everything is on time, yeah. Chuck: Do you have any other All earth orbit missions are on related watch stories? time, intervals of time. Of course Wally: I have a great story. The you don’t worry about local time. seven of us were reporting in at Langley AFB and this one engineer, Chuck: Right. Harold Johnson, came in wearing Wally: In particular, on Apollo a 24-hour watch and said “We’re we were up there for eleven days. ground. And it had elapsed time. all going to work in 24-hours now, We said “To heck with you guys! In fact I went back to the space so you all will wear this 24-hour We’re not going to Houston and rocket center in Huntsville. watch.” We put it on, threw our time, we’re going to set our own Now my spacecraft [his Mercury watches off. Within a week we’re time zone.” spacecraft] is in at the Hall all going crazy trying to read this of Fame. In Huntsville, Ed Buck- 24-hour watch. We were all mili- Chuck: Did you rely on as much bee [first director of the Alabama tary men, we could think 24, but or more on instructions from mis- Space and Rocket Center] had we couldn’t read 24. So about a sion control about when to start the hatch off so I could look in, week later he came in and we said burns and stop burns? Did you and I reached in and wound the “Harold what time is it?” And he watch the timers or the watches? clock “ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka”… then does this. [Wally hikes up his Wally: We had both so if you It started running! left sleeve, looks, and then hikes didn’t have communications up his right sleeve]. “It’s about you’d have a timer all set. Shep- Chuck: That’s great. 12:30.” [Laughter] He’d just switch pard counted me down for Mercu- Wally: Well, Cooper had trou- arms. [Chuck notes that this is likely ry. And I said, “that was a pretty ble with his, and he used his the salient reason why NASA did good count Shep,” because later Omega stopwatch to countdown not use the Breitling Cosmonaute I was to land and he said the car- to retrofire. after Scott Carpentier’s Aurora rier was out of position by three 7 Flight.] miles. We’re going five miles a

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Above crew: CM pilot Don Eisele, Commander, Walter M. Schirra Jr. and LM pilot, . Right: Gemini 6 successful second liftoff attempt. (NASA photos)

second, so a second can set you Chuck: Do you think quartz off a long distance. watches are suitable for EVA [Extra-Vehicular Activity] use or Chuck: Was there a different feel space use? needed and it worked perfectly. to the earlier missions compared Wally: They work very well… So I used it. Oh, I know how the to the later missions? No problems apparently. other watches showed up. I had Wally: I’m sure that’s true. The an issued watch in Gemini, and Gemini lift-off, for example, had Chuck: I’ve read somewhere that an issued watch in Apollo. So, a false liftoff [referring to the first supposedly in space battery-pow- those watches went back into the launch attempt of , ered watches drain twice as fast as system again so technically there on December 12, 1965, when they do on earth. were three watches [that Schirra the Gemini Titan was auto- Wally: I can imagine why, I know wore in space]. matically shut down one second it gets very cold. after launch] Chuck: In the final preparations Chuck: I was doing research on for a mission or a liftoff, was a pro- Chuck: Right. Fortis watches for an article and cedure for prepping the Speedies Wally: And I knew it, because I that’s one of the things the Rus- other than as you mentioned ad- had liftoff on my Mercury- sians discovered, that battery pow- vancing the chronograph twenty and I said we didn’t have a lift- ered watches drained the batteries seconds. Did someone wind the off. You’d eject normally, but the twice as fast. watches or did you turn them in mission rule was to eject. I said, Wally: I don’t have any data a week or two before hand so they “No, we haven’t lifted off”. They on that. could make sure they were run- said OK. ning properly and accurately? Chuck: What other watches Wally: No, we kept running them; Chuck: And you stayed with the would you consider for the role we wore them. rocket… that the Speedmaster has been Wally: Tom [Stafford] bought it. used in? Chuck: You wore them? When you probably shouldn’t Wally: No, I don’t think that Wally: They may have done that have. By mission rules we shouldn’t there are any preferences. I found later, I’m not sure, that’s a good have, but I knew better. that was the one that did what I point. Probably, Pan-Am may have

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Right: Wally greets Dr. Wernher Von Braun during a pre-flight briefing. Below: Preparation of Wally’s Sigma 7 Mercury capsule at Hangar S, Cape Canaveral. (NASA Photos)

had custody of it until a few hours before, but we wanted to be sure. We wound them up so it was wound. before that. So we were ready for a couple of times. That got our at- Chuck: Were they set to Houston it, rather than stay up for 12 hours tention. And the Saturn, it never or Mission time? and do rendezvous. So we’d make had a problem. It’s amazing when Wally: That’s a good question. It that like 10 o’clock in the morn- you think of it. was probably set to Cape [Canav- ing. We’d go back three hours and eral] time. We probably changed it’d be 7 o’clock, whatever that Chuck: What do you think of it to another time zone once we was, our local time on board. NASA’s current plans for space got into orbit because we didn’t Chuck: Were astronauts required exploration? want to get up at Houston time. to turn over their Speedmasters Wally: Pretty well screwed up. Oh, Or Washington time. for service or maintance at any I have a couple of arguments I’ve time or at any interval? recorded recently, and one of them Chuck: Move it back an hour so Wally: I don’t recall that, no. is that we don’t know how a human you’d get an extra hour’s sleep! can endure the long duration of a Wally: What we actually did was Chuck: In general, in your opin- trip to Mars and back. The moon when the mission had a particu- ion how did astronauts view the and back or to Mars and back–one larly important event like rendez- chronographs? Did they like them? word. This could be a two-and- vous, we’d wake up three hours Did they not like them? Did most a-half to three-year mission. You astronauts see it [The Speedmas- have not enough room in your ve- ter] as another part of their kit? hicle for exercise devices. Wally: Just part of the program. Wally: At any rate, to go to Mars and back you have radiation, Chuck: They didn’t see it as em- which is a monster problem. Two, blematic of being an astronaut? you have timing. The time is go- Wally: By no means. ing to be real critical. You can’t use satellite watches up there when Chuck: It was just another of tool the satellites are back here some- to get the job done? where. Three, you need a ton of Wally: Exactly. water to drink a year. Now where’s all that water coming from? Chuck: Which space missions did you consider the most hazardous? Chuck: And you have to lift all Wally: Hazardous? All three! that out of the gravity well. Oddly enough the Atlas was the Wally: Yeah and I keep saying most hazardous booster, and the “They are going to try to find wa- four of us who flew on Atlas have ter on Mars”? Seventy percent of a 100% success. Isn’t that amazing the earth’s surface is water and when you think of it? only one percent of the water on this planet is palatable. If you find Chuck: Yes. water on Mars or the Moon is that Wally: Well we saw Atlas blow up going to be palatable?

156 www.iwmagazine.com JULY 2007INTERNATIONAL WATCH Schirra recommended these books for fans of space exploration and NASA exploits.

Chuck: Right. Wally: These are big, big prob- lems. And they are not addressing it. They’re talking about going to the moon and building a moon colony. A lot of the astronauts are talking about that. Now on the moon, the dust can be a real nightmare. It’s crystalline glass al- most; it’ll cut up all the bearings and the seals. So we’re worried Wally Schirra (seated) and Tom Stafford, going through suiting up exercises prior to their about that. Gemini VI launch. (NASA photo)

Chuck: Do you ever wish you’d Wally: Oh! I wish they would do would there be anything you’d flown more missions? Do you ever that. Of course we have the schol- suggest? wish you had had a fourth mission? arship foundation, the NASA Wally: Yeah lots of things. Sure, Wally: I was hoping to get a lunar Scholarship Foundation. I’m ac- updating. Automatic movement, mission. But once I got the first tive with Give Kids the World, although you got to keep moving Apollo mission, I knew that was which is a sequel to Make-A- [to keep automatic movements the end of it. That’s the kiss of Wish. We’re trying to get the kids working], but I think that’d be the death to command, well, not kiss excited about math, , way to go rather than winding it. of death in that sense, but end of and science. Electrical, as you say, might very the line if you command an Apol- Chuck: ’s been back well be hurt by the environment. lo mission. And no one who com- up into space. If NASA called you But the interesting thing about manded an Apollo mission had a Monday morning and said, “We time is that it’s not an easy thing second one except for Stafford, want you to go”, would you want to work with. which was Apollo-. to go? Chuck: Thank you very much for Wally: One, I’m not that old. your time! Chuck: If you could have your Two, I didn’t need the flight time Wally: For your time? You didn’t mean choice of spacecraft past or pres- - I’ve had 300 hours. No, it would to say that, did you (laughs)? C ent to fly on a mission, what would take three years to get to the point it be? What mission would you fly where I was able to command a and why? shuttle mission, and I don’t want Wally: Gemini 6 all over again. to be a straphanger. That’s what I Chuck Maddox, an authority on vin- That was a thrill. For one, we sur- called John, he was a straphanger. tage chronographs,has avidly followed passed the Soviets finally. That in And ’s and fighter pilots man’s exploration of space since itself was a big event. are very proud of their heritage. watching Apollo 7’s launch telecast But I don’t blame John for going, at the age of six. He hosts a collec- Chuck: Do you have any advice it was a heck of a good idea. tion of articles at http://home.xnet. for any youngster who might com/~cmaddox/cm3articles.html and be interested in a career in the Chuck: If you were to come out a blog at www.chuckmaddoxwatch. space sector? with a new astronaut timepiece, blogspot.com.

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