Houston: Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams, who took off for her second space mission, will cast her vote from the International Space Station in the US presidential election to be held in November, just about a week before her return to the Earth.
Williams is scheduled to return to earth on November 12. Day for voting for the US president is November 6. So she will be casting her vote in the election through NASA’s special programme called ‘Voting from Space’. “We’ll, there’s a programme called Voting from Space, we’re working through it right now. I will actually be voting from space,” Williams said before her flight.
A sports lover herself, Sunita Williams said that she will be excited to watch the London Olympics from the station. She thinks there is a similarity between the International Space Station’s goal of fostering global cooperation and the spirit of the Olympics.
“Well, of course. It’s, I mean, the Olympics, what is it, it’s an international competition, to foster friendship and, and competition across, across the planet, and I think that’s exactly what the International Space Station is.”
When asked whether they are going to have any Olympic Games on board, she said, “Well, we probably will. I think, we’re going to go beyond the, or not cross over country boundaries, though, because, you know, we are already an international crew, so I think we might do something Soyuz crew versus Soyuz crew. So I think we’re going to have some competitions up there. We’ll see what happens,” , Williams said in a pre-flight interview. (PTI)