The radial form of Hylleraas’ equation for the hydrogen atom, Λl‖El〉=4ℏ4a−2‖El〉 (a=Bohr radius), is considered and it is shown that the operator Λlcan be factorized. Hence ladder operatorsP±lare derived that are linear in the position operatorrand are nonlinear functions of the momentum operatorp. It is proven thatP±l‖El〉 =2ℏ2a−1[1+(l+ (1)/(2) ± (1)/(2) )2×(2Mℏ−2a2E)]1/2‖E,l±1〉. In the momentum representation of wave mechanics the solutions to these equations are the radial momentum‐space wavefunctions for the hydrogen atom. Thus a simple method of calculating these wavefunctions is obtained. The results complement the familiar operator solution for the hydrogen atom that is based on factorization of the radial Hamiltonian and yields operators that are linear inpand are nonlinear functions ofr.