Atlanta (AP) – NASA astronaut Kate Rubins told the Associated Press on Friday that she plans to cast her next vote from space – more than 200 miles from Earth.
Rubins is just outside Moscow in Russia’s Star City, preparing for a mid-October launch and a six-month stay on the International Space Station.
“I think it’s really important for everyone to vote,” Rubins said. “If we can do it from space, I believe people can do it from the ground as well.”
Most U.S. astronauts live in Houston. Texas law allows them to vote from space using a secure electronic ballot. Mission Control forwards the ballot to the space station and returns the completed ballot to the county clerk.
“It’s important to participate in our democracy,” Rubins said. “We consider it an honor to be able to vote from space.”
NASA astronauts have voted from space before. Rubins and Shane Kimbro cast their ballots from the International Space Station.
Rubins, the first person to sequence DNA in space, plans to work on a blood vessel experiment and conduct research using the space station’s Cold Atom Lab.
While it is there, it will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its continued human presence on the space station, and the crew of the second SpaceX commercial crew mission, is expected to arrive in late October.
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