We have investigated the effect of 1‐MeV electron irradiation up to a total dose of 5.7×1017electrons/cm2at room temperature on YBa2Cu3Oxwith gold bead contacts made by the melting technique. We measured the superconducting transition temperatureTc, the critical current densityJcat 77 K, the normal‐state resistivity, and the contact resistance for gold bead contacts as a function of fluence on the same samples without disturbing the contacts.Tcremained constant at 91 K, andJcat 77 K remained constant around 90 A/cm2. The normal‐state resistivity increased systematically by about 15% for the total dose. Finally, the surface contact resistance at 77 K remained less than 4.2 &mgr;&OHgr; cm2throughout the radiations. These studies took place over an 8‐month period, and subsequent measurements indicate that the results are definitely due to radiation effects and not aging effects. Since the total dose represents 120 years of electron exposure in geosynchronous orbit, we conclude that the superconductor YBa2Cu3Oxwith gold bead contacts would perform well in a space environment of electron irradiation.