The majority of us will never get a chance to visit the moon personally. But it only takes 2.5 seconds for a ham operator to send a message to the moon and back. And that’s exactly what happened on June 26 and 27, 2009, as hundreds of people around the world bounced their voices off the moon as they celebrated World Moon Bounce Day as part of a tribute to the Apollo 11 lunar landing 40 years ago. Voices that were sent to the moon and back included those of ham operators, school children and at least one astronaut.

Mechanical Engineer Eric Stackpole told Wired Science, “I’ve been a huge fan of going to the moon and lunar exploration.” Stackpole sent his voice from the 150-foot parabolic dish in the hills behind Stanford University. “Now I can say my voice has been heard from the moon, and I’m not even an astronaut!”

Photo taken from Wikimedia Commons. Photo Credit: NASA; Photo Copyright: NASA