NASA astronaut Anil Menon said U.S. crew members aboard the International Space Station can cast ballots electronically while in orbit. (Foto: Instagram)
NASA astronaut Anil Menon said on Tuesday, Nov. 3, that U.S. crew members aboard the International Space Station can cast ballots electronically while in orbit. The station is about 400 kilometers, or 250 miles, above Earth.
In a social media post, Menon described a small, private area aboard the orbital laboratory with a computer where astronauts can complete an electronic voting form. “Today, we have the privilege of voting too, just like you on solid ground,” he said.
Millions of Americans were voting in the midterm elections on Tuesday. Voters were choosing representatives for all 435 seats in the House and 35 of the Senate’s 100 seats. Gubernatorial elections were also being held in 36 states.
According to NASA, U.S. astronauts have been able to vote from space since 1997, when the Texas Legislature passed a law allowing them to cast ballots in orbit. A completed electronic ballot is relayed by NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System to a ground antenna at the agency’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico. NASA then sends it to Mission Control at Johnson Space Center and onward to the county election office responsible for the voter. The ballot is encrypted and can be accessed only by the astronaut and the election office, NASA says, to protect the privacy of the vote.
