NASA astronauts stationed on the International Space Station (ISS) will have the opportunity to vote ahead of the 2024 US elections on November 5th. Their votes will be sent down to Earth via NASA’s Near Space Network, part of the agency’s Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) program.

NASA astronauts will vote from ISS

The next US Presidential election is fast approaching, with incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris running against former President Donald Trump. Despite not even being on the planet, spacefaring NASA astronauts are US citizens and will be able to exercise their democratic right to vote next month.

iss photo

Photo: NASA

According to a NASA release, the process will be fairly similar to how other US citizens vote when away from home, but with a few special differences given the circumstances. NASA stated,

“Astronauts forego many of the comforts afforded to those back on Earth as they embark on their journeys to space for the benefit of humanity. Though they are far from home, NASA’s networks connect them with their friends and family and give them the opportunity to participate in democracy and society while in orbit.”

It wasn’t always the case that astronauts could vote from space. The practice has been in place since 1997 after the Texas Legislature passed Rule 81.35 allowing it – NASA astronaut David Wolf was the first to vote from space while aboard the Mir Space Station, while Kate Rubins was the last person to vote from space during the 2020 elections (Rubins also voted during the 2016 elections from space).

nasa astronauts wilmore williams

Photo: NASA

Two astronauts who have confirmed they will be casting their votes from space are Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who will both unexpectedly be onboard the ISS during the election. Wilmore and Williams launched into space as the first manned Starliner crew, but problems with Boeing’s spacecraft pushed their initial eight-day stay in space to almost eight months.

Step-by-step process

Firstly, astronauts will fill out a Federal Post Card Application (digitally, of course) to request an absentee ballot. They will then complete this ballot and upload it to the ISS computer system before their vote passes through a series of relays until it reaches the county clerk.

nasa astronauts vote space

Photo: NASA

Much like most data transmitted out of the ISS, votes will travel through NASA’s Near Space Network – the ballot will first travel through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System to a ground antenna at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, before being sent via landline to Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

From here, it will be passed on to a county clerk, who will process the vote – each ballot will be encrypted and accessible only by the astronaut and county clerk. Rosio Torres-Segura, a spokesperson for Harris County Clerk’s Office, shed some more light on the process, telling NBC News,

“Before sending the astronauts their ballot, it is transferred to a fillable document so that they can make their selections, save it, and send it back. A test ballot with a unique password is always sent first. Once they vote on their live ballot, it is returned, printed, and processed with other ballots.”

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