Donald James ) writes:
Please don't flame me if this has been addressed before - I just
couldn't find it.
Is it just a coincidence that astronauts happen to be hams or do they
have to become hams as part of their training? I ask because of how it
seems as though all of them are.

Thanks,

Astronauts as hams is a relatively new thing, unless some simply wanted
to be anonymous in this area.

Yuri Gagaran was a ham, and that was known relatively early on.

In CQ, about 1965, there was an article about Owen Garriot and his hopes
to get into space. He was a ham at that point, but but really I've not
seen mention of other astronaut hams back then or for a good long time.

Keep in mind that the early astronauts came from a pilot and military
background. That does not preclude them from being hams, but it would
seem many weren't interested.

As space flight became more common, with the shuttle, there was obviously
a shift away from that pilot and military background, to a scientific
background. That likely brought many out of the woodwork. I though
Owen had that background, and at the time of that 1965 article, time before
he got into space.

In 1977 or 78, there was a construction article by a ham who wanted to
get into the astronaut program. Indeed, in the preface he said he was
hoping that the fact he had built his own computer would be a plus
toward his being selected. Right now, I can't recall his name, but he
was one of the scientific astronauts, and he did of course get into space.

When there was Skylab, AMSAT had a proposal to put a station on board,
but that never happened (I've seen varying reasons for it not happening).

It was only once the shuttle happened that there was a chance to operating
amateur radio equipment from space. So up till that time, there would
be little reason to know who had a license and who didn't.

Once ham radio in space was part of the shuttle program, obviously it
was useful for those who were hams. By then, the wider swatch of society
getting into space likely provided some already licensed. Of course,
there would be no sense in doing it unless there could be hams in space.

And by that time, getting a license was relatively easy, with a code-free
technician license in the US. It was simple enough that likely many did
get licenses because they might as well. Since much of the program was
intended for educational purposes, there probably was incentive to get
the license. For that matter, they might have learned from scientists
in isolated areas (like the antarctic) that amateur radio was a way to
kill some time when there wasn't much to do in your off time, so they
saw a use in getting a license.

Micahel VE2BVW