Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore plan to vote in 2024 US election from space
Stranded on the International Space Station through February, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore plan to vote in the November 5 US presidential election from space.
“It’s a very important duty that we have as citizens and (I am) looking forward to being able to vote from space, which is pretty cool,”
Williams, who is of Indian origin, said on a call with reporters on Friday afternoon.
Williams, 58, and Wilmore, 61, participated in a press conference on Friday from the International Space Station (ISS), which has been their home since June.
Their Boeing Starliner spacecraft ran into several problems midflight and could not bring them home from a planned 8-day voyage. “I sent down my request for a ballot today,” Wilmore said.
“It’s a very important role that we play as citizens including those elections, and NASA makes it very easy for us to do that,” he said.
They, however, did not indicate which presidential candidate — either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris — would get their vote.
American astronauts have been voting from space since 1997 when the Texas legislature passed a bill allowing NASA employees to vote from space, New York Post reported.
That year, NASA astronaut David Wolf became the first American to vote from space on the Mir Space Station.
In 2020, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins also performed her civic duty from space on the ISS.
Election officials in Harris County, Texas — where NASA’s Johnson Space Station is located — told NBC News that they work with NASA to send astronauts a PDF with clickable boxes to make their choices. The PDF is password-protected to ensure a secret ballot.
Friday’s press conference came exactly one week after the Starliner returned to Earth — without its crew — to make room on the space station for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, which is now due to bring the two astronauts home in February. Williams and Wilmore are living on the ISS with seven other astronauts.
They said they feel “grateful” to spend more time in space, despite difficulties. When asked if it was difficult to see the Starliner leave without them, William said they were tasked with ensuring it left the ISS safely.
“We were watching our spaceship fly away,” she said.
Williams said as she and Wilmore used to work in the Navy, they are “not surprised when deployments get changed”.
“It’s risky and that’s how it goes in the business,” she said.
When asked if they feel let down by NASA and Boeing, Butch said, “Absolutely not.” Pointing to William’s t-shirt with a NASA logo, he said: “That represents something that we stand for as an agency – we go beyond, we do things that are out of the ordinary.” “This is not easy,” he added.
He said that 90 per cent of their astronaut training is about preparing for “the unexpected”. Williams, who has just been named the commander of the International Space Station, said she was in good spirits. “We’re here with our friends, we’ve got a ride home,” she said, adding that she is looking forward to the next couple of months on board the ISS.
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Trump urges US allies to send warships to Strait of ?Hormuz as Iran vows to retaliate
Cairo (AP): US President Donald Trump said he hoped allies would send warships to secure the vital Strait of ?Hormuz while Iran urged people to evacuate three ports in the United Arab Emirates as its war with the United States and Israel showed no signs of ending.
Iran's call to evacuate the Middle East's busiest port and two other UAE ports marked the first time it had openly threatened a neighboring country's non-U.S. assets.
Tehran said the U.S. had used “ports, docks and hideouts” in the UAE to launch strikes on Kharg Island, home to the main terminal handling Iran's oil exports, without providing evidence. It urged people to leave areas where it said U.S. forces were sheltering.
Meanwhile, Lebanon's humanitarian crisis deepened, with over 800 people killed and 850,000 displaced as Israel launched waves of strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.
Iran says the US attacked from close to Dubai
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Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the US attacked Kharg Island and Abu Musa Island from two locations in the UAE, Ras Al-Khaimah and a place “very close to Dubai,” calling that dangerous and saying Iran “will try to be careful not to attack any populated area” there.
US Central Command said it had no response to Iran's claim. A diplomatic adviser to the UAE's president, Anwar Gargash, said on social media the country has the right to defend itself but “still prioritises reason and logic, and continues exercising restraint.”
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Arab Gulf neighbours during the war, but it has said it was targeting US assets, even as hits or attempts were reported on civilian ones such as airports and oil fields.
Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz was closed only to “those who are attacking us and their allies.”
Trump urges allies to send warships to Strait of Hormuz
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As global anxiety soars over oil prices and supplies, Trump said Saturday that he hopes China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK and others send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz “open and safe.” Britain in response said it was discussing with allies a “range of options” to secure shipping.
Araghchi, in a social media post, urged neighbours to “expel foreign aggressors” and described Trump's call as “begging.”
On Saturday, Iran's joint military command reiterated its threat to attack U.S.-linked “oil, economic and energy infrastructures” in the region if the Islamic Republic's oil infrastructure is hit.
Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency said the Kharg Island strikes caused no damage to oil infrastructure. It said they targeted an air defense facility, a naval base, the airport control tower and an offshore oil company's helicopter hangar.
US identifies 6 killed in military aircraft crash
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The US Department of Defense on Saturday identified six service members who died when the military refueling aircraft they were aboard crashed Thursday while supporting operations against Iran.
The service members were Maj. John A. Klinner, 33; Capt. Ariana G. Savino, 31; Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34; Capt. Seth R. Koval, 38; Capt. Curtis J. Angst, 30; and Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, 28, according to U.S. officials.
The crash in western Iraq followed an unspecified incident involving two aircraft in “friendly airspace,” according to U.S. Central Command. The other plane landed safety.
