How NASA Astronauts Cast Their Votes from Space

As Election Day approaches, many Americans are organizing to vote, although some of those votes will have to travel a long distance. NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) must make the necessary arrangements to cast their votes from 400 kilometers above the Earth's surface, where they orbit in space. Fortunately, there is a system that allows them to participate in the democratic process, although they must complete a mail-in ballot since there are no polling places nearby.

Astronauts like Loral O'Hara and Jasmin Moghbeli, who participated in the Texas primaries last March, used an electronic system that transports their choices to Mission Control at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, which then sends the ballots to the county clerk's office. NASA's Near Space network enables communication between the astronauts on the ISS and Earth, facilitating the electronic delivery of ballots from space.

Despite the challenges it may seem, astronauts have expressed their excitement about the idea of voting in space. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, upon learning that they would be staying on the ISS longer than planned due to issues with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, commented that voting from space would be a special experience. "It's a very important duty we have as citizens, and I’m eager to be able to vote from space, which is pretty cool," Williams said at a press conference. "Today, I sent in my ballot request," Wilmore added. "It's a very relevant role that all of us play as citizens by participating in these elections, and NASA makes that task much easier."

Astronaut voting was established in the late 1990s following a request from NASA astronaut John Blaha, who was on the Mir space station. He wanted to vote but there was no secure way to do so. The following year, in collaboration with the Texas state legislature, a system was implemented, and David Wolf became the first American astronaut to cast a vote from space in 1997.

However, the process is not entirely straightforward. Marta Durham, a Daily Operations and Crew Support instructor at NASA, explained that mail-in ballots must be signed by hand, not electronically, so they generally aim to have the ballots signed before the astronauts leave Earth. In the case of Wilmore and Williams, since they stayed longer than planned, they had to print the ballots in space, sign them, and then scan their signatures. The problem was that scanners use glass, a material that is prohibited on the ISS for safety reasons. Ultimately, Durham conducted some tests and found that the iPads used by the astronauts on the station have cameras that work well enough as scanners. However, the only challenge was keeping the paper flat in a microgravity environment. In the end, they managed to resolve it, and both Wilmore and Williams were able to cast their votes.