No Polling Booth, No Problem: Indian-Origin Astronaut Shows How NASA Crew Votes From Space
Summarized by AI; it may make mistakes. Check important info
Summarized by AI; it may make mistakes. Check important info
Indian-American astronaut Anil Menon has cast his vote in the 2026 US midterm elections from the International Space Station (ISS), using a secure electronic ballot transmitted from orbit to election officials in Texas.
Menon shared a video showing how he completed the voting process from his personal sleeping compartment aboard the ISS. Two other US crew members, Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, also cast their ballots from space.
"Yes, you can even vote from space! All three US crew members had the privilege of voting from space station. We filled out an electronic ballot and sent it securely to the election officials," Menon wrote.
How Anil Menon Cast His Vote From Space
In the video, Menon can be seen using a computer inside his sleeping compartment to access and submit his electronic ballot.
His vote travelled nearly 400 kilometres from Earth's surface to the ISS before being transmitted back to the United States. The ballot was routed to Harris County, Texas, where many NASA astronauts are registered to vote because they train and work at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
According to NASA, astronauts must complete federal paperwork before their missions to register for absentee voting. When an election approaches, local election officials prepare a secure electronic ballot that astronauts can access from space.
Once completed, the ballot travels through NASA's communication network. It is transmitted via satellites to ground antennas at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, then routed through Mission Control in Houston before reaching the designated election office.
The process uses encryption to protect the ballot and ensure that only authorised election officials can access it.
Anil Menon Is Not The First Astronaut To Vote From Space
Voting from space dates back to 1997, when Texas passed a law allowing astronauts to cast absentee ballots from orbit.
NASA astronaut David Wolf became the first to do so aboard Russia's Mir space station that year. Since then, astronauts including Kate Rubins, who voted from the ISS in 2016 and 2020, have continued the practice.
Menon, Watkins and Delaney are part of the US crew aboard the International Space Station, which hosts astronauts from different countries.
Watkins and Delaney arrived aboard SpaceX's Crew-13 mission in October 2026, while Menon reached the ISS earlier aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Despite working alongside an international crew and conducting scientific experiments hundreds of kilometres above Earth, the three astronauts made time to participate in the US electoral process.
