As the US gears up for its November 5 presidential election, an extraordinary group of voters prepares 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 the US elections, ensuring that even those orbiting the planet can exercise their right to vote.

Aboard the ISS are Boeing Starliner astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams. Since their mission was extended in June 2024 due to safety protocols, they have announced their intention to vote in the US elections from space. They will be stuck in space until at least February 2025.

During a NASA press conference in September, Williams expressed her enthusiasm for voting from orbit, saying, “It’s a very important duty that we have as citizens, and [I am] looking forward to being able to vote from space, which is pretty cool.”

Wilmore added, “It’s a very important role that we all play as citizens, to be included in those elections, and NASA makes it very easy for us to do that. So we’re excited about that opportunity.”

This is not an isolated instance. Astronauts have cast their ballot from space since 1997, thanks to a Texas law. It was passed to support astronauts from Texas, where NASA’s Johnson Space Center is located, in staying involved in the democratic process while fulfilling their duties in space.

David Wolf was the first to vote from the now-defunct Mir Space Station in 1997. Since then, multiple astronauts have cast their ballots. Kate Rubins was the last astronaut to vote from the ISS during the 2020 US elections.

The voting process for astronauts is streamlined and secure. After applying for an absentee ballot, the astronauts complete their ballots electronically while aboard 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 through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, before being forwarded to Mission Control in Houston. From there, the ballots are electronically sent to the respective county clerk’s offices for official processing.

NASA emphasises the significance of this connection in a recent blog post: “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.”

Washington:

The NASA-SpaceX spacecraft, carrying Crew-9 members NASA astronaut Nick Hague (commander) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov (mission specialist), was on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, in a mission that aims to bring stranded Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams back to Earth in February next year.

The NASA-SpaceX mission safely reached orbit, after it was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This mission is significant as it marks the first human spaceflight to launch from Space Launch Complex 40.

“SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS). The new crew arrives at the orbiting lab Sunday, Sept. 29, for a five-month science mission,” NASA posted on X social media platform.

The targeted docking time is approximately 5:30 p.m. Sunday (3.30 am Monday India time), according to NASA.

The Crew-9 members will have two empty seats for NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams will fill when the spacecraft returns next year.

The Crew-9 was initially expected to launch on Thursday but was postponed due to poor weather conditions due to hurricane Helene, currently impacting the Gulf Coast of Florida.

Williams and Willmore travelled to the ISS on an eight-day sojourn on the faulty Boeing’s Starliner. While the Starliner was declared unfit for human travel by NASA, and it returned safely to Earth, the astronaut duo are stuck in space.

For the first time since the May 2020 test flight, SpaceX launched two astronauts to the ISS on a Dragon spacecraft.

In a bid to make room for Williams and Willmore in the orbiting lab, NASA had pulled out two other Crew-9 members — commander Zena Cardman and three-time shuttle flier Stephanie Wilson.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

This undated handout picture from Nasa released on July 2, 2024 shows NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts (from top) Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station’s Harmony module and Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
| Photo Credit: AFP

NASA said on Wednesday (August 14, 2024) it’s still deciding whether to keep two astronauts at the International Space Station until early next year and send their troubled Boeing capsule back empty.

Rather than flying Boeing’s Starliner back to Earth, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams would catch a ride on SpaceX’s next flight. That option would keep them at the space station until next February.

Also read:Why NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Sunita Williams may be in space until 2025

The test pilots anticipated being away just a week or so when they rocketed away as Starliner’s first crew. But thruster failures and helium leaks marred the capsule’s trip to the space station, raising doubts about its ability to return safely and leaving the astronauts in limbo.

NASA officials said they’re analyzing more data before making a decision by end of next week or beginning of the next. These thrusters are crucial for holding the capsule in the right position when it comes time to descend from orbit.

“We’ve got time available before we bring Starliner home and we want to use that time wisely,” said Ken Bowersox, NASA’s space operations mission chief.

NASA’s safety chief Russ DeLoach added: “We don’t have enough insight and data to make some sort of simple, black-and-white calculation.”

DeLoach said the space agency wants to make room for all opinions unlike what happened on NASA’s two shuttle tragedies, Challenger and Columbia, when dissenting views were ignored.

“That may mean, at times, we don’t move very fast because we’re getting everything out, and I think you can kind of see that at play here,” he said.

Switching to SpaceX would require bumping two of the four astronauts assigned to the next ferry flight, currently targeted for late September. Wilmore and Williams would take the empty seats in SpaceX’s Dragon capsule once that half-year mission ends.

Another complication: The space station has just two parking places for U.S. capsules. Boeing’s capsule would have to depart ahead of the arrival of SpaceX’s Dragon in order to free up a spot.

Boeing maintains Starliner could still safely bring the astronauts home. The company earlier this month posted a list of testing done on thrusters in space and on the ground since liftoff.

NASA would like to keep SpaceX’s current crew up there until the replacements arrive, barring an emergency. Those four should have returned to Earth this month, but saw a seventh month added to their mission because of the uncertainty over Starliner, keeping them up there until the end of September. Most space station stays last six months, although some have gone a full year.

Wilmore and Williams are retired Navy captains who spent months aboard the space station years ago. They eased into space station work as soon as they arrived, helping with experiments and repairs.

“They will do what we ask them to do. That’s their job as astronauts,” said NASA chief astronaut Joe Acaba.

He added: “This mission is a test flight and as Butch and Suni expressed ahead of their launch, they knew this mission might not be perfect.”

Eager to have competing services and backup options, NASA hired SpaceX and Boeing to transport astronauts to and from the space station after the shuttles retired in 2011.

SpaceX’s first astronaut flight was in 2020. Boeing suffered so much trouble on its initial test flight without a crew in 2019 that a do-over was ordered. Then more problems cropped up, costing the company more than $1 billion to fix before finally flying astronauts.