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US midterm elections: Three astronauts vote from the International Space Station
2026-11-03 22:58:00 / BOTA
Three American NASA astronauts have participated in the US midterm elections by casting their votes from the International Space Station (ISS), at an altitude of more than 400 kilometers above Earth.
Anil Menon, Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney filled out the ballots electronically and sent them via a secure communications network to the relevant election authorities.
The news was announced by Anil Menon through a post on the X platform, where he explained how the three astronauts managed to participate in the electoral process, despite being in orbit.
"Yes, you can vote from space! The three American crew members had the privilege of voting from the Space Station. We filled out an electronic ballot and sent it securely to the appropriate election officials," he wrote.
In a short video, Menon showed how he used his personal space on the International Space Station as a temporary polling place. After filling out the electronic ballot, he sent it to Harris County, Texas, where he is registered to vote.
Yes, you can even vote from space! All three US crew members had the privilege of voting from the space station. We filled out an electronic ballot and sent it securely to the election officials. https://t.co/hJCExQ2nKr
— Anil Menon (@astro_anil) November 3, 2026
NASA has a special procedure that allows astronauts to participate in American elections even when they are on long-term missions outside Earth.
The voting is conducted via the Space Near Earth Network, part of the US agency's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program. The network, operated by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, enables data transmission between the International Space Station and facilities on Earth.
Astronauts receive the ballots electronically, fill them out, and then send them back to Earth via an encrypted link. The data is first transmitted to NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston and then forwarded to the appropriate election authorities.
The procedure is designed to guarantee the secrecy of the vote, as only the astronaut and an authorized election official have access to the contents of the ballot.
Anil Menon has been on the International Space Station since July 14, 2026, when he arrived aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft, along with cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina.
The American astronaut is an emergency physician and previously served as SpaceX's first flight physician, contributing to the support of the Demo-2 mission, through which the company sent astronauts into space for the first time.
Menon was selected by NASA in 2021 and is part of an approximately eight-month mission to the ISS, where scientific experiments and testing of technologies related to future space exploration are being conducted.
The other two American astronauts who participated in the vote, Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, arrived at the Space Station on October 1 as part of a SpaceX mission. Their participation in the vote did not affect the work and scientific research program on the station.
Voting from space was first made possible in 1997, when the state of Texas passed a special law allowing astronauts to vote while in orbit.
That same year, astronaut David Wolf became the first American to vote from space, while aboard the Russian space station Mir. Other astronauts later followed suit, including Kate Rubins, who voted from the ISS in the November 2020 presidential election.
Even in the 2024 presidential election, four American astronauts managed to vote from the International Space Station.
The participation of the three astronauts in this year's elections was also mentioned by NASA head Jared Isaacman, who commented: "Off planet, but still present to vote."
The voting from space took place on the same day that millions of Americans headed to the polls for the midterm elections, which will determine the new makeup of Congress.
The November 3rd election is considered particularly important for the Donald Trump administration, as the outcome will affect the balance of power in the House of Representatives and the Senate for the next two years.
For the three astronauts, the election process took place from an unusual polling place: the International Space Station, which orbits the Earth at an altitude of about 400 kilometers.
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