US Election 2020: NASA astronaut to cast ballot from space station in Nov polls

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins on Friday said that she plans to cast her next vote from space which is more than 200 miles above Earth for the upcoming United States Presidential elections. Rubins is currently preparing for a mission that is slated to launch in mid-October along with two cosmonauts and a six-month stay at the International Space Station.

'It’s critical to participate in our democracy'

“I think it’s really important for everybody to vote,” Rubins said. “If we can do it from space, then I believe folks can do it from the ground, too", newsagency Associated Press quoted her as saying.

“It’s critical to participate in our democracy,” Rubins said. “We consider it an honor to be able to vote from space", she added.

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Earlier NASA astronauts have voted from space before. As most of the United States astronauts live in Houston, the Texas law allows them to vote from space using a secure electronic ballot. NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston sends a secure electronic ballot to the astronauts who send it back and the control center then emails it to the County Clerk’s Office to be recorded.  According to NASA, the voting process starts a year before launch. Where the astronauts select which elections they want to participate in, and then submit an absentee ballot request six months before the elections. Meanwhile the United States Presidential election, 2020 is scheduled for Tuesday, 3 November.

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About Kate Rubins

Rubins joined NASA in 2009 and completed her first spaceflight in 2016 as an Expedition 48/49 crew member. She launched in July and spent 115 days in space, where she conducted two spacewalks totaling 12 hours and 46 minutes before returning to Earth in October. Rubins became the first person to sequence DNA in space and she will conduct research using the Cold Atom Lab and will work on a cardiovascular experiment that builds on an investigation she completed during her previous mission, on her next mission.

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(With inputs from agency)