Civilian Space Traveler Making Ham Radio Contacts from Space

NEWINGTON, CT, April 11, 2007.
Less than a day in space, civilian space traveler Charles Simonyi, KE7KDP/HA5SIK, is already making contacts with the earthbound ham radio community from NA1SS.

The billionaire software pioneer and aviator arrived April 10 at the International Space Station with the Expedition 15 crew of Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI, and Oleg Kotov.

Yurchikhin, Kotov and Simonyi launched in a Soyuz spacecraft two days earlier from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, says he's received several reports that Simonyi has been making contacts, including some the evening of April 10 with stations in Hawaii and the US Northwest

Radio Ham Billionaire in Space