National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut Kate Rubins will be in space during the voting of the 2020 US presidential election. But she plans to vote from the space station when people will be casting their ballot on earth. Rubins is currently preparing for a mid-October launch in the Star City of Russia. She along with two cosmonauts will be staying at the International Space Station for six months. Rubins feels that it is very important for everybody to cast their ballots. “If I can cast my vote from space, I believe people can do it from the ground too,” she said.
“It’s important for everyone to participate in our democracy. It is nothing less than an honor to be able to vote even from space. We fill out a form and then vote via absentee ballot, and I am planning to that in November,” Rubins said. According to reports, most of the astronauts are the residence of Houston. According to Texas law, astronauts can vote using a secure electronic ballot in space. The ballot is forwarded to the space station by Mission Control and after the ballot, it is then relayed back to the county clerk. This is not the first time when she will be doing that. Earlier during the 2016 presidential elections, Rubins and her fellow astronaut Shane Kimbrough cast their votes from space. During her stay in space this year, Rubins will work on cardiovascular research under the Cold Atom Lab of the space station.
Rubins is the first human to sequence DNA in space. During his stay this time, she will celebrate the 20th anniversary of an uninterrupted human presence on the space station. She will also welcome the crew members of the second SpaceX commercial mission expected to arrive in late October. Meanwhile, NASA is all set to launch a news space toilet next week. It will be tested by astronauts at the International Space Station before being used on future missions to Mars on the moon.
