Anil Menon, an American astronaut currently stationed at the International Space Station (ISS), registered his vote in the midterm elections. Menon spoke about this unique experience in a video shared on social media, stating that he had the opportunity to vote just like other Americans.
Voting from Space
Menon, who was launched into space in July aboard the Russian spacecraft Soyuz MS-29, described his room as a polling place. He said, "This room, which serves as a polling place, includes a computer that allowed me to fill out my electronic ballot and send it to Harris County." Harris County is home to NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.
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His two fellow American astronauts, Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, who were launched to the ISS last month on a SpaceX rocket, also managed to vote. Astronauts, like other Americans who are away from home, can register their votes by filling out an absentee ballot request form.
Astronaut Voting Process
After filling out the electronic ballot, the document is transmitted via satellite tracking systems and NASA data to a ground antenna at a testing center. From there, the votes are sent to the mission control center in Houston, Texas, and then forwarded to the appropriate official in the county. To maintain privacy, the vote is encrypted and only the astronaut and the county official have access to it.
American astronauts have had the ability to vote from space since 1997, when the Texas state legislature passed a law allowing NASA astronauts to vote from orbit. David Wolf is recognized as the first American astronaut to vote from space, having registered his vote aboard the Mir space station in 1997.
In a 2016 interview, Wolf said, "I voted alone in space, as the only English speaker there, and it was nice to have a ballot in English that came from the U.S. It made me feel like people on Earth really cared about me being up there."
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