Sunita Williams Vote from Space: Voting is being held on Tuesday (November 5) for the US presidential election. After the voting, counting will begin and the results will be out. There is a contest between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris to become the new President of America. Millions of Americans are going to polling stations to cast their votes for the 2024 US elections, some of their fellow countrymen will also be exercising their right to vote, but not on this planet but in space.

To ensure that no one is left behind, NASA launched a plan that allows astronauts to perform their civic duty even while in space. Reports suggest that four Americans currently in space would like to exercise their voting rights. These include two Boeing Starliner astronauts - Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who are stranded in space until February.

What did Sunita Williams say?

Indian-origin space veteran Williams shared her excitement for voting in space at a conference in September, as she was originally scheduled to return to Earth in time to vote in person. "This is a very important duty as a citizen and I am looking forward to being able to vote from space, which is a great thing," she said.

How do you vote in space?

NASA facilitates a voting process that is similar to absentee ballots for votes cast by someone who is unable to go to the allotted polling station. Votes are transmitted over a distance of 1.2 million miles between the space station and the mission control center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas.

Astronauts fill out a federal postcard application to request an absentee ballot and fill out an electronic ballot in space. The document is then sent via NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System to a giant antenna at the agency's test facility in New Mexico. From there, NASA transmits the ballot to the Mission Control Center which sends the vote to the county clerk responsible for casting the ballot. To ensure privacy, the ballot is encrypted and accessible only to the astronaut and the clerk who cast the ballot.

When was the first vote cast from space?

According to NASA, David Wolf was the first person to vote in space in 1997 and Kate Rubins was the last astronaut to vote from the International Space Station during the 2020 US elections.