Omega Speedmaster saves the Apollo 13 moon mission in 14 seconds

Fifty-three years ago, on April 11, 1970, the crew of Apollo 13 set course for the moon. NASA astronauts James Lovell (commander), Jack Swigert (command module pilot), and Fred Haise (lunar module pilot) had no idea that a serious problem would arise just two days later.

The Omega Speedmaster Professional played a crucial role in the crew's safe return and was awarded the highest honor NASA can bestow on employees and contractors: the Silver Snoopy Award .

All three astronauts wore their Omega Speedmaster Professional 105.012, which they had donated to NASA. It was Omega's first "Professional" Speedmaster model, making it slightly different from the Speedmaster approved by NASA for manned space missions in 1965.

As early as 1964, Omega submitted the Speedmaster 105.003 (third generation) to NASA for testing by NASA engineer James Ragan. Unlike the watches supplied to NASA by Rolex, Longines-Wittnauer, and (later) Bulova, the Speedmaster passed all tests.

At the same time, Omega also developed the "Professional" model with crown protection. This was the fourth generation of the Speedmaster and bore the reference number 105.012.

The 321 caliber inside remained the same and remained in use until 1968. On April 13 (10:08 p.m. EST), an accident occurred aboard the service module. An oxygen tank exploded, leading to the abort of the mission. Hence the famous quote, "Houston, we had a problem."

The command center in Houston was working diligently to bring the crew home safely. Swiger, Haise, and Lovell had to relocate to the lunar module and worked with the command center on various solutions to resolve the problem and conserve as much energy as possible.

The 1995 film “Apollo 13,” starring Tom Hanks as Lovell, Kevin Bacon as Swigert, and Bill Paxton as Haise, tells the full story of the accident and the steps taken to resolve the problem.

F After resolving the urgent problems on board the spacecraft, the next challenge was getting it back on track. During the troubleshooting efforts, it drifted approximately 60 to 80 nautical miles off course.

This would have caused the module to enter Earth's atmosphere at the wrong angle—with fatal consequences. The astronauts had to manually steer the spacecraft and bring it back on track.

This required a 14-second fuel burn. Measuring the exact 14 seconds was crucial. However, Jack Swigert couldn't rely on the digital timepieces aboard the spacecraft. Instead, he had to time his Omega Speedmaster Professional 105.012-66, serial number 69, to 14 seconds using the chronograph function.

The maneuver worked to within a fraction of a second, and the crew returned safely, splashing down in the South Pacific on April 17, exactly 142 hours and 54 minutes after launch on April 11.

You might think any watch could time 14 seconds flawlessly. But only the Omega Speedmaster survived the NASA test, which simulated the stresses of space.