OMEGA
EVENT
O n August 12, 2022, BC Clark had the honor of having General Stafford, former NASA astronaut, at our Northpark location for a once in a lifetime event co-hosted with OMEGA. As one of OMEGA’s longest standing ambassadors, General Stafford and his team led a panel discussion. During this time he discussed his missions, answered questions and signed a few OMEGA Speedmaster watch boxes for loyal OMEGA customers in attendance to purchase and take home. Attendees got to hear the stories of his time in space and how close he came to touching down on the moon. He entertained the crowd with many answers to questions pertaining to the possibility of reaching Mars and at 91 years old, General Stafford still held his quick wit and humor, positioning him as the smartest person in the room. If you don’t know Lieutenant General Thomas Stafford’s legacy, he is a decorated astronaut, leader, pioneer, and Oklahoma Native. He is a former Air Force officer, test pilot and NASA astronaut, not to mention one of 24 people to reach the Moon. He has participated in NASA projects; Gemini 6A, Gemini 9A, Apollo 10 and Apollo Soyuz-Test Project.
General Stafford was the leading member of the group which helped the sequence of missions leading to the first lunar landing missions. In May 1969, he was the commander of Apollo 10 and performed the first successful rendezvous around the moon on top of designing the first lunar landing site. This mission was the final dress rehearsal for a lunar landing which happened just 2 months later by Neil Armstrong and his crew. General Stafford was cited in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the highest speed ever attained by a man, which achieved 24,791 statute miles per hour. This record still holds to this day. His fourth and last mission in 1975 included the historic space meeting and handshake between American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts. This event was a major advance in joint experiments for future international space projects. By the end of his career he had logged 507 hours and 43 minutes and flight time in space. His many achievements include being Head of Research and Development at the Pentagon, helped develop the Hubble instrument, worked at Area 51 and is responsible for Stealth Technology and chaired a team to carry out President Bush’s vision of returning to the moon. To this day he still serves on advisory boards for NASA.
16 BC CLARK MAGAZINE
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