Wally Schirra and his Accutron

Wally Schirra, in full Walter Marty Schirra, Jr., (born March 12, 1923, Hackensack, New Jersey, U.S.—died May 3, 2007, La Jolla, California), U.S. astronaut who flew the Mercury Sigma 7 (1962) and was command pilot of Gemini 6 (1965), which made the first rendezvous in space. He was the only astronaut to fly in all three of the early U.S. crewed spaceflight programs—Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.

During training for the Gemini 3 mission in 1965, Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom borrowed a Bulova Accutron wristwatch from back-up Gemini 3 commander Wally Schirra. Grissom purchased this replacement watch after the Gemini 3 flight but never found the time to give it to Schirra. In January 1967, Grissom was killed in the tragic Apollo 1 fire. Schirra received this replacement watch from Grissom’s widow shortly after the tragedy.

The choice of the Air Force was not random, so NASA followed suit. A lot of astronauts wore the Accutron early on in the manned space program, mainly because it could handle the G’s of liftoff better than any other watch. The Bulova Accutron Astronaut was also worn by CIA test pilots flying the A12, the first Mach 3+ capable aircraft, and also by astronaut Wally Schirra. It’s no surprise that the Accutron movements also found their purpose in the cockpits when powering instrument panel timers for manned space flights.

Gordo Cooper and Wally Schirra could often be seen “double wristing” the Astronaut with their Speedmasters.

Schirra began flying at age 13 and became a naval aviator after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, in 1945. He flew 90 missions in the Korean War. A test pilot, he was one of the original seven astronauts named in 1959. On October 3, 1962, Schirra orbited Earth six times in Sigma 7. His scheduled flight with Thomas P. Stafford in Gemini 6 was postponed twice because of technical problems. Gemini 6 was finally launched on December 15, 1965, 11 days after Gemini 7. Schirra successfully rendezvoused with Gemini 7, maneuvering to within one foot of the craft. After the rendezvous, Gemini 6 returned to Earth the next day, December 16, 1965.