The United States elections They entered their final stage. The Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and the republican donald trump They dispute the political future of the country vote by vote. Citizens have already begun to vote, in person and by mail, in elections in which even the astronauts They are authorized to vote. How they should do it.
On Tuesday, November 5, the presidential elections to define the successor of Joe Biden. Among the enabled to cast the vote are not only those who are on Earth, but also those who are currently orbiting the planet aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
the astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who are currently orbiting more than 322 kilometers from Earththey will be able complete the voting process to elect your candidate for the White House. Both announced in September that they had requested the sending of the ballots in order to begin the procedure.
What is the voting process like for astronauts in the US elections?
The voting process from ISS It has several stages. It starts with the ticket request by the ISS crew members. Then, they are sent a test ticket to your emails with a unique password that allows them to access the voting system.
Once the correct operation of the system has been verified, Each astronaut receives the official document in their email where they can select the vote. It should be noted that the electronic ballot is an encrypted file which can only be opened with a password, which guarantees the security of the vote.
After completing the ballot, the document is sent to Earth via NASA’s Near Space Network through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS), a communication system that uses satellites to transmit data from the ISS to antennas on the ground. The vote is transmitted to mission control in Houston and then relayed to the appropriate county clerk for processing.
The astronauts’ vote in the United States elections
This method was enabled thanks to the approval of a legislation in 1997 pushed by Texas legislatorswhich enabled astronauts, mostly citizens of the Texas city of Houston, to cast their vote from space. That year, the NASA astronaut David Wolf was the first American to cast his vote from Earth orbit.
At this time it was successfully used in presidential elections since 2004, with the exception of 2012 when astronauts voted “absentee” before launching to the ISS.
In 2008, the commander Edward Michael Fincke and the flight engineer Greg Chamitoff They voted remotely from the International Space Station. In doing so, they recorded a video inviting other citizens to vote: “We are exercising our right, the privilege of casting our vote,” as this “is the most important statement an American can make.” “If we can do it,” they say, “so can you.”
Two elections later, in 2016, Another astronaut who was in space was able to exercise his right to vote, as announced by the POT. Shane Kimbrough voted forearly during your stay on the International Space Stationwhich he had arrived on October 19 aboard a Russian ship for a four-month mission.
months ago, Wilmore and Williams They held a press conference to announce their current situation on the International Space Station. And they took the opportunity to talk about voting in the presidential elections.
“I sent in my request for a ballot today, in fact, and they should arrive in a couple of weeks.”Wilmore said at the time and highlighted: “It is a very important role that we all play as citizens to be included in those elections and NASA makes it very easy for us.” Both astronauts will have to stay a while longer in the ISS after your ship Boeing Starliner suffered technical problems that prevented its return to Earth after what should have been an eight-day mission.
Source: Ambito
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