Ahmedabad, June 3: A 58-year-old Ham radio enthusiast from Ahmedabad got a response from SpaceX Crew Dragon's astronauts while trying to connect with International Space Station. Adhir Saiyadh got in touch with the NASA astronauts - Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley - before they docked with International Space Station on Sunday. Saiyadh was on a video call with a student when he received a response from the astronauts. NASA Astronauts Head for International Space Station on Historic SpaceX Flight.

The radio enthusiast told news agency ANI, “I was on video call with a student explaining how to connect to ISS, it was then that I got a response.” According to a report published in Ahmedabad Mirror, Saiyadh got connected around the time the astronauts were giving viewers of Nasa TV an interactive tour of the cockpit. At that time, the spacecraft was passing over India.

Adhir Saiyadh's Statement:

“I realised that ISS was to pass over India around then and I decided to try my luck. I coincidentally got connected on their frequency and received a reply from one of the commandants on the capsule,” reported the media house quoting Saiyadh as saying. In the past also Siayadh had connected to ISS. He was a ham radio operator for 35 years.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying two veteran NASA astronauts lifted off on Saturday on a historic first private crewed flight into space. The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket blasted off smoothly in a cloud of orange flames and smoke from Launch Pad 39A at Florida's Kennedy Space Center for the 19-hour voyage to the International Space Station.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 03, 2020 03:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).