One of my earliest memories from childhood is wanting to become an astronaut. The space race was formative, and I’ve alluded previously to my father taking me outside in the 1960s to see Echo 1, a massive mylar balloon that became the first widely visible synthetic object to orbit the earth.

Obviously I didn’t become an astronaut. I do, however, recall the federal government’s newspaper ads seeking Canada’s first complement of astronaut trainees. By then I was teaching physics and computer science and raising a family. Many of you will recall names from that first astronaut group: Marc Garneau and Roberta Bondar, for instance.

I’ve maintained a lifelong interest in space and continue to promote avenues and projects that will draw students into the field.

This summer I fulfilled a long-standing dream by talking with an astronaut on board the International Space Station (ISS) via radio. And not once, but twice.

Here “talking to an astronaut” needs to be qualified. To be sure, it was not akin to an extended phone conversation. On both occasions, the connection was fleeting but captivated me.

The ISS is one of humankind’s greatest achievements of the past few decades. It is a celebration of success in many fields, and it highlights what is possible when nations collectively pursue new undertakings in various scientific endeavours.

Continuously occupied since 2001, most often by a team of six or so astronauts and cosmonauts, and sometimes by as many as a dozen, the ISS represents the pinnacle of international cooperation. Even though the Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to political jostling, and even outrageous threats by former Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin, the two primary participating nations in the ISS program have continued launching and recovering each other’s space travellers.

Part of the ISS program involves educational science outreach. Contacts between ISS crew members and schools around the world are scheduled regularly. It’s probably not an understatement to say that “space is back” as students plan their education and careers. Part of this, perhaps even a large part, comes through the many initiatives of Elon Musk. I’m thinking of SpaceX and its recoverable rocket launches, and of the Starlink program, which is bringing fast, reliable internet pretty much everywhere on the planet.

Included in the educational component of the ISS program is the certification of all American astronauts as amateur radio operators – ham radio operators, to use the general expression. That certification is used in the school contacts, but it also finds occasional use in spontaneous connections with earthbound ham radio operators such as me.

Collectively, the amateur radio program on the space station is known as ARISS, Amateur Radio, ISS. ARISS is a volunteer-driven collective of organizations that manages the radio program on the ISS. Many, although not all, of these organizations are in member countries of the ISS program. Also included is AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation.

Most recently, the ISS has had a particularly active radio operator on board, astronaut Kjell Lindgren, who has an extensive background in medicine and public health. After launching to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Dragon craft, he became a regular user of the amateur radio gear on board the space station.

In its simplest terms, an astronaut puts out a call over the ISS radio, giving its callsign, NA1SS (or from the Russian module, RS0ISS). Amateur radio operators can reply to such a call. Astronaut Lindgren used the ISS radio station extensively during passes over the U.S. Since the ISS travels west to east, we here in Vancouver are in a good position to reach American astronauts via radio as they prepare to make contacts across the U.S.

That’s pretty much how it went for me. I was outside working in the garden. I knew that the ISS had a high-angle pass around noon, and I was expecting to merely bounce a signal off the repeater aboard the station. I put out my call sign, saying VE7AFV CN89 Vancouver, representing my call sign and a grid locator. I heard another station, in Washington State, and realized he had just contacted astronaut Lindgren. I quickly repeated my call sign, and then I heard, “Vancouver station, this is NA1SS, welcome aboard the International Space Station.”

I immediately replied, “QSL Vancouver,” essentially a confirmation that I had heard him calling me. It was done and the astronaut was on to the next contact. Figuratively, I was over the moon. With just very simple gear, a handheld radio with what is known as a rubber duck antenna, I had managed to get a signal to an astronaut orbiting the earth some 420 km above me. We had what is known in radio parlance as a QSO, a conversation, confirmed on both sides.

Later that summer I briefly contacted the astronaut again, this time using a slightly better antenna. Lindgren has since returned to earth, and the ISS radio station has gone relatively quiet, save for scheduled school contacts. For me, these two QSOs fulfilled at least part of that childhood memory.