Fancy automatic systems like that one are rare, but celestial navigation done by hand used to be quite common on board commercial aircraft. Making a long flight over the ocean in decades past, there really was no other way to keep track of where you were with any sort of accuracy. This lasted well into the jet age. Early 747s had a sextant port so that the navigator could use it to get a position fix.

There are rumors that the 747's sextant port fit a hose pretty well, and could be used as a nice vacuum cleaner while at altitude.