Three NASA astronauts voted from the ISS in US elections — Space.com

NASA astronauts Anil Menon, Luke Delaney and Jessica Watkins voted in the US midterm elections from aboard the International Space Station. Menon reported this by posting a video from his cabin on the orbital station.

An electronic ballot from orbit

Menon wrote on social media platform X that all three American crew members voted on the station by completing an electronic ballot and securely sending it to election officials.

In the video, the astronaut showed his voting location — his own cabin on the ISS, where his computer is located. According to Menon, he completed the electronic form and sent it to Harris County, Texas. Most NASA astronauts register to vote in this county, where the Johnson Space Center in Houston is located.

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How ballots reach Earth

According to Space.com, American astronauts have been able to vote from space since 1997, when Texas passed a law allowing this procedure. NASA astronaut David Wolf was the first to use it: that same year, he voted from the Russian station Mir.

After it is completed, the electronic ballot is transmitted through NASA's satellite system to a ground antenna at the White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The agency then forwards it to NASA's Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center, and then to the county clerk. The ballot is encrypted and accessible only to the astronaut and the clerk.

Delaney and Watkins arrived at the ISS on October 1 as part of the SpaceX Crew-13 mission. Menon has been on the station since mid-July, having arrived aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.