A young girl, eight, 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 who answered the call saying, ‘Welcome to the International Space Station.’
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.’
‘Thank you, fly safe,’ Isabella says before the two sign off and her father, Matt Payne, shared the audio clip for the world to hear.
The exchange was possible because of her father’s hobby of using an armature radio station to speak with other operators across the world, but the father daughter duo made that one connection that is out of this world.’
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‘It’s a little bit of knowledge but mostly pure luck, Payne said when answering a question on Twitter about how his radio connected to the International Space Station (ISS).
‘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.’
Isabella fell in love with space when she was just two years old, according to her father who shared the experience in a tweet thanking Lingren for speaking with his daughter.
‘April 23, 2016. A 2-year-old sat on my knee and watched the students of Wellesley House school chat with @astro_timpeake, an event I helped organize,’ Payne shared.
‘Today she got her chance.
‘Thank you so much @astro_kjell, you have changed her world.’
Images snapped of Isabella after her call show the little girl beaming in delight.
Lingren also tweeted about the interaction, writing: ‘I’ve had a lot of fun using the #ARISS amateur radio station #NA1SS on the @Space_Station to talk with ham radio operators all over the world.
‘I’ve even (unofficially) worked stations on all continents! But this may be my favorite contact so far. Thanks Isabella and @m0lmk!’
ARISS is Payne’s amature radio station that he uses to speak with other ham radio enthusiasts worldwide.
Lingren has been with NASA since 2009 and is on his second mission in space.
His first was in July 2015 through December 2015, when he also logged 15 hours and four minutes of spacewalk time.
Lingren launched in April aboard a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket topped while inside a Crew Dragon capsule dubbed ‘Freedom,’ along with Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins, and Italian Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency.
The Expedition 67 astronauts named the spacecraft in honor of Alan Shepard, the first American in space – named for his spacecraft Freedom 7, flying on May 5, 1961.
SpaceX Crew Dragon ‘Freedom’ is the company’s fourth to be named by its crew, with the others given the titles Endeavour, Resilience, and Endurance, in order of launch.
Lingren and the team are spending a total of five months aboard the ISS where they are carrying out scientific experiments.
Overall, this will be the sixth Crew Dragon flight, with the other taking the fully private Inspiration4 crew into orbit for just short of three days last year.
