Twice Flown to ISS Cosmonavigator Cosmonaut Watch
Flown on two long-duration missions and on both Soyuz and Shuttle spacecraft
Unique color-coded outer ring to indicate position over the Earth
Spent over 1 year in space
Price: SOLD
The Cosmonavigator is arguably the rarest of designed-for-space and flown-in-space timepieces. Designed by legendary cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov, along with telling the time, it can tell you what part of the Earth you are orbiting above. Dzhanibekov came up with the idea whilst orbiting Earth in 1985 in the dead space station, Salyut 7. Having been sent on a rescue mission to power the station back up, Dzhanibekov wondered where exactly he was orbiting above. He wished there was a way to find out, without having to get out of his sleeping bag to communicate with mission control. He came up with a watch that could be set so that the colour coded dial around the outer edge of the face indicates where you are.
The spacecraft orbits once every 90 minutes at an inclination of 51 degrees from the Equator, whilst the Earth continues to spin on its axis below. This means that each time the spacecraft begins a new orbit, the Earth has revolved underneath it - so that the spacecraft is now above a different part of the globe. The colour coded dial depicts oceans and landmasses, with grey for Latin America and red for Europe etc. By looking at the dial, the wearer could see where they are orbiting above, as the dial is set to be in sync with the motion of the Earth relative to the spacecraft. Built to withstand spaceflight, the Cosmonavigator is waterproof to 3ATM, with a manual winding mechanical movement. It is designed to cope in the weightless microgravity environment of space and is qualified for use on EVA (spacewalking) outside the spacecraft.
Dzhanibekov's design was proved to be a success in 2004, when his colleague Gennady Padalka took it into space. This was nearly 20 years after he had first come up with the idea whilst aboard Salyut 7. That first prototype is now at the National Space Centre in Leicester, UK and has been exhibited at Woolsthorpe Manor – the family home of Sir Isaac Newton.
Only 350 Cosmonavigators were ever produced, with half being kept by the Russian space agency Roscosmos and the rest offered for limited sale.
Although many of the Roscosmos contingent were issued to Soyuz ISS crews from 2004 onwards, most crew members gave them to their families so that they could be used by family members to have a better understanding of where the ISS was at any given time. Only a few were ever confirmed having flown in space – including those through a project arranged by cosmonauts Salizhan Sharipov and Pavel Vinogradov and with the support of Vladimir Dzhanibekov. These elite timepieces have the distinction of having flown for a total time of just over one year in space, completing over 5800 orbits of Earth on two separate ISS long-duration missions.
In addition, they have flown on three spacecraft, not two – the first mission saw them launched and landing with Sharipov in 2005 on Soyuz TMA-5 but for their second space voyage they were launched in 2006 with Vinogradov on Soyuz TMA-8 and returned to Earth six months later on Space Shuttle Atlantis (OV-104) with the crew of STS-115, one week ahead of Vinogradov’s return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-8.
Further details on this project are documented here
This Cosmonavigator, serial number 174, is one of the twice-flown watches from the Sharipov-Vinogradov project. It comes with original box and labels and is in pristine condition. Accompanying it are:
Certificate of authenticity signed by Salizhan Sharipov, Pavel Vinogradov and designer Vladimir Dzhanibekov
Flight history validation certificates signed by Salizhan Sharipov and Pavel Vinogradov
Roscosmos flight qualification validation certificate signed by Salizhan Sharipov and Pavel Vinogradov
Photos from its second flight signed by Pavel Vinogradov
Photos of the Cosmonavigator floating aboard the ISS during it's second flight (hand signed by Pavel Vinogradov)
Signed COA from Salizhan Sharipov
Signed COA from Pavel Vinogradov
Stamped COA
Stamped Cosmonavigator Manual
Instructions inside the manual on how the color coded ring determines the location above the Earth
If you have any questions email us
Thanks
Mike Constantine
Contact Us
All design and images © moonpans.com
The spacecraft orbits once every 90 minutes at an inclination of 51 degrees from the Equator, whilst the Earth continues to spin on its axis below. This means that each time the spacecraft begins a new orbit, the Earth has revolved underneath it - so that the spacecraft is now above a different part of the globe. The colour coded dial depicts oceans and landmasses, with grey for Latin America and red for Europe etc. By looking at the dial, the wearer could see where they are orbiting above, as the dial is set to be in sync with the motion of the Earth relative to the spacecraft. Built to withstand spaceflight, the Cosmonavigator is waterproof to 3ATM, with a manual winding mechanical movement. It is designed to cope in the weightless microgravity environment of space and is qualified for use on EVA (spacewalking) outside the spacecraft.
Dzhanibekov's design was proved to be a success in 2004, when his colleague Gennady Padalka took it into space. This was nearly 20 years after he had first come up with the idea whilst aboard Salyut 7. That first prototype is now at the National Space Centre in Leicester, UK and has been exhibited at Woolsthorpe Manor – the family home of Sir Isaac Newton.
Only 350 Cosmonavigators were ever produced, with half being kept by the Russian space agency Roscosmos and the rest offered for limited sale.
Although many of the Roscosmos contingent were issued to Soyuz ISS crews from 2004 onwards, most crew members gave them to their families so that they could be used by family members to have a better understanding of where the ISS was at any given time. Only a few were ever confirmed having flown in space – including those through a project arranged by cosmonauts Salizhan Sharipov and Pavel Vinogradov and with the support of Vladimir Dzhanibekov. These elite timepieces have the distinction of having flown for a total time of just over one year in space, completing over 5800 orbits of Earth on two separate ISS long-duration missions.
In addition, they have flown on three spacecraft, not two – the first mission saw them launched and landing with Sharipov in 2005 on Soyuz TMA-5 but for their second space voyage they were launched in 2006 with Vinogradov on Soyuz TMA-8 and returned to Earth six months later on Space Shuttle Atlantis (OV-104) with the crew of STS-115, one week ahead of Vinogradov’s return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-8.
Further details on this project are documented here
This Cosmonavigator, serial number 174, is one of the twice-flown watches from the Sharipov-Vinogradov project. It comes with original box and labels and is in pristine condition. Accompanying it are:
If you would like to buy this ISS Flown Item email us
Photos of the Cosmonavigator floating aboard the ISS during it's second flight (hand signed by Pavel Vinogradov)
Signed COA from Salizhan Sharipov
Signed COA from Pavel Vinogradov
Stamped COA
Stamped Cosmonavigator Manual
Instructions inside the manual on how the color coded ring determines the location above the Earth
If you would like to buy this ISS Flown Item email us
If you have any questions email us
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Thanks
Mike Constantine
Contact Us
All design and images © moonpans.com