In 1973, Colonel William Pogue brought his Seiko 6139 Automatic Chronograph on board the Skylab 4 mission as part of his personal kit. He had purchased the watch from the PX at Ellington AFB, and although the watch wasn’t Flight-Approved by NASA, he was allowed to bring it on the flight. The Skylab 4 mission was manned by Pogue, along with astronauts Gerald Carr and Edward Gibson, and was the third and final manned mission on the United States’ first space station. During the 84-day flight, the astronauts performed experiments pertaining to human endurance in zero gravity, along with observation of the earth, sun, and the Comet Kohoutek. While the mission was ultimately a success, the Skylab project was scrapped as NASA’s shuttle program got underway.
