US elections 2020: Astronaut Rubins votes from International Space Station; here's how

On October 22, NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins cast her ballot for 2020 using a secure electronic ballot dispatched to International Station (ISS) some 200 miles away from Earth. In a post shared by NASA’s Astronaut Twitter account, astronaut in for a 6-month stay was seen standing in front of a makeshift “ISS voting booth” ahe of US elections. “From International Station: I voted today,” astronaut Rubins wrote, which was retweeted by NASA.

In a release, NASA explained that it sent a few absentee ballots to NASA astronauts living and working aboard International Station ahe of US’ vember’s elections. exception was me as cosmonauts and astronauts were bound for long haul missions that lasted for months, refore, NASA arranged for Federal Postcard Application or FPCA in .

“It’s same form military members and ir families fill out while serving outside of US. By completing it ahe of ir launch, station crew members signal ir intent to participate in an election from ,” NASA explained. Because NASA’s astronauts hail from different states in US, y also h option to cast a ballot as residents of ir home states having ir counties make a special arrangement to vote in post-FPCA approval. 

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How did astronaut vote? 

For astronaut Kat Rubin to vote this election 2020 as she h in 2016 elections, NASA’s Johnson Center in Houston has dispatched a test ballot for astronaut through county clerk that mans election in her home state. n, a station training computer is used to fill it out and later send it back to county clerk by Mission Control. “After a successful test, a secure electronic ballot generated by Clerk’s office of Harris County and surrounding counties in Texas is uplinked by Johnson’s Mission Control Center to voting crew member,” NASA informed.

County Clerk also sent an email to astronaut with her crew member-specific credentials which allow her to access secure ballot onboard ISS.  or NASA astronauts who were earlier expected to depart into on Crew-1 scheduled for Oct. 31originally were also going to cast a ballot in . However, launch having deferred to mid-vember, or astronauts would w cast vote from Earth on election day.  

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