A Gujarati engineer connects with SpaceX’s and Nasa’s Crew Dragon

iNIDICA NEWS BUREAU-

Last week on May 30, SpaceX and Nasa created history by sending manned spaceflight into the orbit, through a commercially-made spacecraft. While this news was covered all world, there was another interesting event that happened.

An engineer from Ahmedabad has claimed he got connected with the two astronauts for the Crew Dragon.

Adhir Saiyadh, a ham radio enthusiast, says he got a response from the Crew Dragon astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken while trying to connect with the International Space Station, reports news agency ANI.

“I was on a video call with a student explaining how to connect to ISS. It was then that I got a response,” the 58-year-old Ahmedabad resident told ANI.

According to another report in Ahmedabad Mirror, Saiyadh got connected around the time the astronauts were giving the viewers of NASA TV an interactive tour of the cockpit.

“I was on a video call with my student regarding the ISS. He asked me if we could connect with ISS. I decided to try and connect while I was on the video call. I coincidentally got connected on their frequency and received a reply from the capsule and experienced a video call type connection,” Adhir told ANI.

“We were in the middle of an e-lecture when this capsule passed over Ahmedabad. I tried to connect to the ISS and we got connected. They acknowledged the call,” added Adhir.

A qualified engineer, Saiyadh told the publication that the experience “felt personal” as he got a response from astronaut Doug Hurley. He added that the call made him feel that he too, “was a part of the history they made.”

The SpaceX’s Crew Dragon flight was also the first time in 11 years that NASA astronauts were launched into space in an American space vehicle and from US soil.