Two American astronauts, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, stuck on the International Space Station (ISS), expressed their desire to vote in the upcoming US presidential elections this November. The astronauts stuck on ISS due to technical issues with their spacecraft.

During a live press conference last night, from 250 miles above Earth aboard the ISS, the Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams, along with Butch Willmore said that they have requested a ballot to vote in the upcoming US elections, emphasising the ‘important role’ that citizens play in the democratic process.

The duo travelled to the ISS abroad Boeing’s Starliner space shuttle in its first crewed mission, on June 5 for an originally planned stay of 8 days. However, after the shuttle experienced some technical malfunction, their return was cancelled and the vessel returned without them. The duo is now expected to return aboard SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission in February 2025.