While most Americans cast their midterm ballots on solid ground yesterday, three U.S. astronauts aboard the International Space Station submitted their votes from space.
NASA crew members Anil Menon, Luke Delaney, and Jessica Watkins used an electronic voting system aboard the ISS that allowed their ballots to be transmitted to election officials nearly 400 kilometers below them.
Interestingly, the first time an American astronaut voted from space actually took place nearly 30 years ago, as in 1997 David Wolf submitted his vote while he was aboard Russia’s Mir space station, which was the predecessor to the International Space Station used today.
It just goes to show that patriotism knows no borders and that distance is no excuse for Americans to perform their civic duties.
