The Man Who Trains Astronauts To Be Hams

Since 1983 many orbital space missions have taken along amateur radio gear.

The first ham in space was Owen Garriott, W5LFL. He was followed by Tony England, W0ORE, after which ham radio in space was formalized. First, under the title of the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment or SAREX and today as ARISS or Amateur Radio on the International Space Station. And with amateur radio a part of the astronauts training, someone on the ground has to teach them.

Recently, Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, had a chance to meet and talk with the man who really is the ham behind the ham radio operators in space: Nick Lance, KC5KBO:

Do you remember where you were when NASA embarked on the Apollo space program that culminated with U.S. astronauts landing on and exploring the moon? Nick Lance, KC5KBO, does.

He joined NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston at the time of Apollo 7 in the late 1960s. He was there through that historic Apollo 11 mission and worked for some 40 years for the space agency until his retirement Aug 1.

Space Station on Ham Bands