Being more than 400 kilometers above Earth did not prevent three US astronauts from voting in Tuesday’s legislative elections. Aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Anil Menon, Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney completed electronic ballots and sent them to election officials in Harris County, Texas.
Menon confirmed the crew’s participation in a social media post and shared a video showing the small sleeping compartment he used as a voting booth. He filled out the ballot on a computer and transmitted it back to Earth. Menon said all three US crew members had voted from the station and that their ballots were sent securely.
Astronauts can request an absentee ballot using the Federal Post Card Application, a form also available to other US citizens living away from home. Once delivered electronically, the ballot can be completed aboard the ISS and returned through NASA’s communications network.
The ballot travels by satellite to a ground antenna at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, then to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston before reaching the election office responsible for the astronaut’s registration. NASA says the ballot is encrypted and can be accessed only by the astronaut and the election official assigned to receive it.
Voting from space has been possible since Texas passed a law in 1997 allowing astronauts registered in the state to vote electronically while on missions. That year, David Wolf became the first American to vote from space while aboard Russia’s Mir station. Texas is home to Johnson Space Center, which supports NASA’s crewed missions and trains astronauts.
Sources: Olhar Digital.