NASA astronauts aboard the Worldwide Area Station have the chance to vote typically elections via absentee ballots or early voting in coordination with the county clerk’s workplace the place they reside.  

So, how is voting from area doable? By way of NASA’s Area Communication and Navigation (SCaN) Program. 

Much like most information transmitted between the area station and the Mission Management Heart at NASA’s Johnson Area Heart in Houston, votes solid in area journey via the company’s Close to Area Community, managed by NASA’s Goddard Area Flight Heart in Greenbelt, Maryland. The community connects missions inside 1.2 million miles of Earth with communications and navigation providers – together with the area station. 

Similar to some other American away from dwelling, astronauts could fill out a Federal Submit Card Software to request an absentee poll. After an astronaut fills out an digital poll aboard the orbiting laboratory, the doc flows via NASA’s Monitoring and Knowledge Relay Satellite tv for pc System to a floor antenna on the company’s White Sands Check Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

From New Mexico, NASA transfers the poll to the Mission Management Heart at NASA Johnson after which on to the county clerk chargeable for casting the poll. To protect the vote’s integrity, the poll is encrypted and accessible solely by the astronaut and the clerk.

Astronauts have voted in U.S. elections since 1997 when the Texas Legislature handed a invoice that allowed NASA astronauts to solid ballots from orbit. That yr, NASA astronaut David Wolf turned the primary American to vote from area whereas aboard the Mir Area Station. NASA astronaut Kate Rubins turned the newest astronaut to vote in a presidential election, as she voted aboard the Worldwide Area Station in November 2020. 

Astronauts forego most of the comforts afforded to these again on Earth as they embark on their journeys to area for the advantage of humanity. Although they’re removed from dwelling, NASA’s networks join them with their family and friends and provides them the chance to take part in democracy and society whereas in orbit. Whereas astronauts come from everywhere in the United States, they make their houses in Texas to allow them to be close to NASA Johnson’s coaching and mission help amenities. 

For greater than 20 years, astronauts have repeatedly lived and labored aboard the area station, testing applied sciences, performing science, and creating expertise wanted to discover farther from Earth. Astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory keep linked with Earth and their civilian lives again dwelling by speaking with mission management via the Close to Area Community. This growth in communication finally can profit humanity and lay the groundwork for different company missions, like NASA’s Artemis marketing campaign, and future human exploration of Mars. 

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