At a distance of over 250 miles above Earth’s surface, astronauts on the International Space Station are still managing to catch election fever. In a video message sent from the space station, Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer and Science Officer Greg Chamitoff described how they proudly took part in their civic duty and urged all Americans to do the same.
“If we can do it, so can you,” the astronauts told voters in their video, which can be viewed here, courtesy of the Telegraph online.
A bill that gives astronauts the ability to vote electronically from space was passed in 1997 by the Texas State Legislature. As many know, NASA headquarters are in Houston, and most American astronauts to call the city their home.
“It’s like a really, really absentee ballot,” commented Alexa Seidl, a Political Science Student at the University of Washington. Seidl went on to say that she now finds it difficult to believe anyone has a good excuse not to exercise their right to vote in this year’s election.
Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain have both made the point to comment on the importance of NASA. In a speech today in Florida, McCain said that to cut the federal deficit he would put a “freeze government spending on all but the most important programs.” He included NASA in his list of important programs.
McCain’s comments and the astronaut voting bill demonstrate how space technology and innovations are considered vital to the United States and the world.
Follow Up: The Hubble Space Telescope’s camera is back up and running, as this picture from NASA shows. (The picture is of two gravitationally paired galaxies interacting.)
One Comment
Starting next week, I’m going to factor mechanical errors into grades for the remaining blog posts. (I’ve been calling attention to some mechanical errors but not taking them into account in the grade.) Below, I have examples of mechanical errors in this post that I’ve repaired.
–Cmdr. Mike Fincke
–commented Alexa Seidl, a political science student at the University of Washington.
–anyone has a good excuse not to exercise [his or her] right to vote
–Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain have both made the point
Follow-up was good. By the way, it’s hyphenated as a noun. Two words as a verb (I will follow up with you later.)
In the future, let’s figure we’ll get by without the nonessential comments that are there just to meet the terms of the assignment (e.g, Seidl). Instead, find two secondary sources. 3