NASA astronauts
on Earth and in space have sent in their votes for the U.S. presidential election and encouraged
all Americans to remember to cast their own ballots today.
Space
station commander Michael Fincke and flight engineer Greg Chamitoff beamed
their votes to Earth on Monday using
a secure electronic ballot that was routed to their local County Clerk's
Office by Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
"Today is
voting day aboard the International Space Station," Fincke said Monday on NASA
TV.
"If we can vote
from up here, so can you," Chamitoff said as the station flew 220 miles (354
km) above Earth.
The two
spaceflyers are only the fifth and sixth American citizens ever to vote from
space since 1997, when Texas lawmakers passed a state law that allows
astronauts to cast ballots while living off Earth.
In addition
to Fincke and Chamitoff, only one other NASA astronaut - veteran spaceflyer
Leroy Chiao - has voted in a presidential election from orbit. Chiao, who has
since retired from spaceflight, voted in the 2004 election while commanding the
station's Expedition 10 mission.
Fincke and
Chamitoff said they hoped their example of voting from orbit might encourage
American citizens on Earth to exercise their own right to vote.
"It's also to
show the rest of our country that [while] I'm so busy up in space, even I can
vote, so you on the ground should be able to vote, too," Fincke told SPACE.com
before flight. "It's a privilege and an honor, so hopefully we'll get some
people excited."
The
American public may not need too much of a boost. According to reports from the
Associated Press, voter
turnout has been high, leading to long lines at polling stations across the
nation.
While the station's
U.S. crewmembers voted Monday, NASA space shuttle commander Chris Ferguson said
Monday that he and his crew made sure to vote early before their planned Nov.
14 launch aboard Endeavour.
"My wife
and I stood in line for two hours on Friday night so we could early vote, and I've
heard of other crewmembers talking about their experiences for making sure
their vote gets in," he told SPACE.com on Monday. "I was really
pleasantly surprised by the local voter output."
Ferguson
and six NASA astronauts are poised to launch
to the space station on Nov. 14 at 7:55 p.m. EST (0055 Nov. 15 GMT) on a
15-day mission to deliver a new crewmember, install gear to help double the
outpost's crew size, as well as perform four complicated spacewalks to repair a
balky solar array joint.
Unlike
Ferguson, who voted in Houston, Endeavour mission specialist Steve Bowen voted
in his home state of Florida with an absentee ballot. He said he was looking
forward to the results of today's election no matter which presidential
candidate won, be it John McCain (R-Ariz.) or Barack Obama (D-Ill.)
"Every
change is an opportunity," Bowen said Monday. "So we'll see what happens."
While Ferguson
joked that he only urged his crew to make sure they got their flu shots (to
make sure no one gets sick during the mission) before launch, but he was
confident his crewmates took time from their busy training schedule to cast
their votes.
"I know
that all the crewmembers are very interested in where the future of the
presidency lies and I'm sure they've all voted," Ferguson said.
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