Eighteen Wheels

In October 1993, I made my first voice contact with an Astronauts on-board the STS-58 Columbia Space Shuttle. Amateur radio was relatively new to me and it was a great thrill to talk with Mission Specialist William S. McArthur.
This was the 15th flight for the Shuttle Columbia carried a life science space laboratory in the cargo bay. I'm sure at the time astronauts were looking forward to doing experiments aboard an orbiting space station. A secondary payload, the Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX), was flown to encourage public participation in the space program. Using an on-board Amateur Radio station, the astronauts communicated with hundreds of hams, students and their parents and teachers. I was one of the lucky ones.
Thirteen years three months later on January 24,2006, as I was tuning through some programmed frequency’s on my on my Yaesu FT-847 Radio, I heard NA1SS the club call aboard the International Space Station. He was calling CQ Honduras as they past over the Yucatan Peninsula. He was 5/9 so I gave my call KR4ST Florida. He came back to my call and I told him this was my second voice contact with an Astronaut, my first was STS-58. To my surprise it was Bill McArthur and he agreed he was the astronaut I made contact so many years ago . God speed Bill from KR4ST Fort Myers Florida.