It's with deep regards that I hear about Owens passing, the first ham in space. His dad was one of my Elmer's, he was a old-time ham. I was able to talk to him on his first pass in the space shuttle Columbia. I cherish the qsl card, and I still have the recording, of his first pass over the United States on the "Spacecraft Columbia" as he called it. The main street in Enid Oklahoma where Vance air force base is is named Owen K Garriott. He was also a pilot and a flight instructor. His son is also a ham and an astronaut, They were the first American father-son astronauts. They were both together at Dayton a few years ago. Three generations of amateur radios come from this family. He held the record for longest space flight for quite a number of years being in the Skylab program. I was also very fortunate to talk to his son (now W5KWQ which is his Grandad's Owen SR original call) from my station in Belize V31KV, when he was on the International Space Station
Owen K. Garriott, W5LFL SK Former astronaut and long-duration spaceflight pioneer Owen Garriott, 88, died today, April 15, at his home in Huntsville, Alabama. Garriott flew aboard the Skylab space station during the Skylab 3 mission and on the Space Shuttle Columbia for the STS-9/Spacelab-1 mission. He spent a total of 70 days in space. “The astronauts, scientists and engineers at Johnson Space Center are saddened by the loss of Owen Garriott,” said Chief Astronaut Pat Forrester. “We remember the history he made during the Skylab and space shuttle programs that helped shape the space program we have today. Not only was he a bright scientist and astronaut, he and his crewmates set the stage for international cooperation in human spaceflight. He also was the first to participate in amateur radio from space, a hobby many of our astronauts still enjoy today.” Garriott was born in Enid, Oklahoma. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Oklahoma, and master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University, Palo Alto, California. Garriott served as an electronics officer while on active duty with the U.S. Navy from 1953 to 1956, and was stationed aboard several U.S. destroyers at sea. He then taught electronics, electromagnetic theory and ionospheric physics as an associate professor at Stanford. He performed research in ionospheric physics and has authored or co-authored more than 40 scientific papers and one book on this subject. He was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in June 1965, and then completed a 53-week course in flight training at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. He logged more than 5,000 hours flying time — including more than 2,900 hours in jet and light aircraft, spacecraft and helicopters. In addition to NASA ratings, he held FAA commercial pilot and flight instructor certification for instrument and multi-engine aircraft. http://parabolicarc.com/2019/04/15/nasa-astronaut-owen-garriott-passes-88/
