Amateur radio has been in space for 50 years. Over the decades AMSAT has launched or partnered with many different organizations to launch ham radio into space. Ham sats allow licensed amateur radio operators to communicate via satellite and connect with other licensed hams all over the world. Amateur Radio Satellites are a great way to meet new people around the world as well as serve as a direct line of communications during disasters.
To me one of the most exciting parts of the hobby is chasing the sats as they race across the sky. Think about pointing a little antenna at an object the size of a softball out in space some 300ish miles away. Not only are you tracking that small object, you are doing so while it travels at 17,000 miles per hour!