Russian Astronaut Plans to Vote in 2018 Presidential Election From Space

BAIKONUR COSMODROME (Kazakhstan) (Sputnik) — Commander of the next International Space Station (ISS) expedition Anton Shkaplerov said Saturday that he would cast his vote in Russia’s presidential election from space.

"We, like all conscious Russian citizens, will take part in presidential elections… I have already voted in space last time when we elected the president of our country. A representative of the electoral commission comes to the Mission Control Center, and a list of candidates is sent to us in advance. Then our representative [proxy] explains the procedure to us," the cosmonaut said.

According to Shkaplerov, the Russian cosmonauts will vote at the Russian segment of the station.

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"We will move to a separate station module, we will be provided with a separate secure communications network. Our proxy will ask us to indicate a candidate, for whom we want to vote, in order to put a check in a box next to his name. Then our representative will put the ballots in a special suitcase with Russia’s coat of arms. I think this time nothing will change, the scheme will be the same," Shkaplerov explained.

READ MORE: Three Crew Members Leave International Space Station to Return to Earth

The launch of Soyuz MS-07 crew of Roscosmos cosmonaut Shkaplerov, NASA astronaut Scott Tingle and JAXA astronaut Norishige Kanai is scheduled for 07:21 GMT on Sunday. Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps are chosen as their backups. The ship docking is planned for 08:42 GMT Tuesday.