An 8-year-old girl had her dreams come true when her father’s ham radio connected to the International Space Station, allowing her to have a 45-second conversation with SpaceX Crew-4 commander Kjell Lingren. Isabella Payne, from Kent, England, introduces herself and her age and then Lingren thanked the young space enthusiast for “getting on the radio and saying hello.”
… The exchange was possible because of her father’s hobby of using an armature radio station to speak with other operators across the world. Dad Matt Payne said connecting to the space station came down to “a little bit of knowledge but mostly pure luck. … There’s a very specific set of circumstances when you can actually talk with an astronaut onboard the ISS and on this occasion, it all came together.”
… On August 2, the pair put dad’s hobby to good use by making a special call to the amateur radio station aboard the International Space Station using his amateur radio station, M0LMK. The call went through, and on the other end of the line was Lindgren.
Photo: Getty Images