Ransom is the International Space Station program's Ham Radio Project Engineer. One of the program's main goals is to provide schoolchildren a chance to talk with astronauts via ham radios. In coordinating this for the station's Expedition 12 commander, Bill McArthur, Ransom realized that McArthur already had talked with people in 25 states.

His next thought was, "Why stop there?" Pretty soon, he was lining up contacts for McArthur in the other 25.

"It was an, 'I know a friend who knows a friend who knows a friend' sort of thing," Ransom explained. "There are a lot of folks eager to talk to an astronaut."

The feeling was mutual.

"Different crews do different things as pastimes," Ransom said. "Bill enjoyed talking on the radio. It gave him someone else to talk to besides CAPCOM, the voice of mission control."

By the end of the mission, McArthur had talked with people in Somalia, the Vatican and even Antarctica. He made more than 1,800 contacts in more than 90 countries on all seven continents, and at least one in all 50 states.

McArthur became the first person to reach all 50 states from space, and he contacted a record-breaking 37 schools in the process, but he couldn't have done it without Ransom's help - and to show his gratitude, McArthur recently presented Ransom with a Silver Snoopy.

The award, a silver lapel pin featuring the Peanuts comic strip character Snoopy in a spacesuit, is given by NASA's Astronaut Office to those who have significantly enhanced the space agency's goals for the human exploration and development of space. Less than 1 percent of the space program workforce receives it annually.

"None of that would have been possible without the work Kenneth did," McArthur said. "He alerted radio operators in some pretty obscure places - places that rarely have contact with the space program."

Of course, Ransom never expected to have contact with the space program, either. After graduating from Denison High School in Denison, Texas, in 1980, Ransom went on to Baylor University in Waco, where he earned journalism and master of environmental studies degrees in 1987 and 2003, respectively.

When he moved to Houston with his wife, Beth, he happened upon an advertisement for what he now calls his dream job. He gave up plans to work with computers, and instead pursued a career in what had been a hobby - ham radios.

"I think it's the greatest job in the world," he said. "I'm sure the astronauts would disagree, but to each his own."

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