Like Father Like Son

In 1983 W5LFL, Owen Garriott, the first ham to call from Space, pioneered the way for an increasingly well developed amateur radio space program.

"It was my good fortune to take the first amateur radio into space on STS-9 in November 1983," Garriott said. "In my spare time only, I managed to hold up an antenna to the window and to talk to amateurs on Earth.

On October 16th and 17th, Owen's son, computer game designer Richard Garriott, aka Lord Britain from the computer game series Ultima, a civilian who paid $30 Million to travel aboard the Russian Soyuz to the International Space Station, repeated his fathers steps, by communicating with schoolchildren using Ham Radio.

Congratulations to Richard on a successful flight and re-entry, and for once again, helping to bring recognition to the wonderful hobby of radio.