No less than one election poll this 12 months got here from out of this world.
NASA astronaut Josh Cassada zipped up the sleeve on his International Space Station (ISS) bunk mattress, making a modified voting sales space to vote within the U.S. midterms from space Tuesday (Nov. 8).
“I’ve voted my whole grownup life, however this 12 months’s voting sales space positively takes the cake,” Cassada, a U.S. Navy captain, joked in a tweet (opens in new tab) displaying off the closed-off bunk. “So grateful to everybody — particularly democracy — for permitting me to stay a part of this important course of this 12 months.”
Cassada and the opposite U.S. astronauts aboard the complicated proper now are eligible to vote by absentee poll. The method includes the astronaut filling out a Federal Postcard Application (opens in new tab) poll earlier than liftoff. (It is just like an absentee poll different U.S. residents use, however focused at populations residing abroad or within the case of Cassada, in space.)
Associated: Election 2022: How astronauts vote from space
The opposite eligible U.S. voters amongst Expedition 68 embody Kjell Lindgren (an American born in Taiwan), Loral O’Hara, Bob Hines, Jessica Watkins (the primary Black feminine on a long-duration flight), Nicole Mann (the primary Native American feminine in space) and Frank Rubio (the primary Salvadoran-American in space).
“I am unable to verify if the people onboard will vote — that has to come back from them,” Dan Huot, NASA’s public affairs lead for the ISS, instructed Area.com when requested if the others plan on it. Huot confirmed, nonetheless, that the absentee poll course of beforehand utilized by NASA astronaut Kate Rubins in 2020 is similar to what’s attainable in 2022.
I’ve voted my whole grownup life, however this 12 months’s voting sales space positively takes the cake. So grateful to everybody – particularly Democracy – for permitting me to stay a part of this important course of this 12 months. pic.twitter.com/l9r83wxoxjNovember 8, 2022
NASA has been a number one merchandise on the political agenda in latest months. U.S. president Joe Biden confirmed the company’s dedication to stay on the ISS by means of 2030 with the passage of the CHIPS Act this summer season. NASA’s 2023 funds acquired a $23 billion request from the White Home, together with a promise to place astronauts on Mars by 2040.
The continued Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in February, nonetheless, has torn aside most space partnerships apart from the ISS and set the tone for tense worldwide moments. One latest instance was threats by Russia that it’ll fire on U.S. commercial satellites taking a look at Ukraine from orbit, which prompted a response from the White Home.
Authorities-funded navy space has additionally been fairly lively in recent times with the creation of a brand new United States Space Force unit pledging to provide “essential intelligence on menace programs, international intentions and actions within the space area.”
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a ebook about space drugs. Comply with her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
