As the US prepares for its November 5 presidential election, an extraordinary group of voters are preparing to cast their ballots from an unconventional polling station – the International Space Station (ISS).
Astronauts stationed hundreds of miles above Earth are fully eligible to participate in US elections, ensuring that those orbiting the planet can also exercise their right to vote.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams are aboard a Boeing Starliner aboard the ISS. Since his mission was extended to June 2024 due to safety protocols, he has announced his intention to vote in the US elections from space. They will remain stranded in space until at least February 2025.
During a NASA press conference in September, Williams expressed his enthusiasm for voting from orbit, saying, “It’s a very important duty as citizens, and (I’m) thrilled to be able to vote from space.” I hope so, which is very good.”
“Getting involved in those elections is a very important role we all play as citizens and NASA makes it very easy for us to do that. So we’re excited about that opportunity,” Wilmore said.
This is not an isolated example. Thanks to a Texas law, astronauts have been casting their ballots from space since 1997. It was passed to support astronauts in Texas, where NASA’s Johnson Space Center is located, to remain engaged in the democratic process while performing their duties in space.
David Wolf was the first person to vote from the now-defunct Mir space station in 1997. Since then, several astronauts have cast their votes. Kate Rubins was the last astronaut to vote from the ISS during the 2020 US elections.
The voting process for astronauts is streamlined and safe. After applying for an absentee ballot, astronauts complete their ballots electronically while on the ISS. NASA then encrypts the data and uploads it to an onboard computer, transmitting it via the agency’s Near Space Network.
This information is relayed to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico via the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS), before being forwarded to Mission Control in Houston. From there, the ballots are sent electronically to the respective county clerk’s offices for official processing.
NASA emphasized the importance of this connection in a recent blog post: “Astronauts give up many of the comforts they enjoy back home when they travel to space for the benefit of humanity. Even far away, NASA’s networks connect them with their friends and family and give them the opportunity to participate in democracy and society while in orbit.”
