Happy Monday, listeners! Let's kick off the week by catching up on the latest science news. For Scientific American's Science Quickly, I'm Rachel Feltman. First up we've got an update on Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
These two NASA astronauts set out to spend just over a week in space in June, but now they won't actually be home until around February. Earlier this month—not long after the ill-fated Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth without them onboard—the pair conducted a press release from the International Space Station. Suni said they're making the most of their extra time in space by being the best crewmates they can be, and both noted that they're looking forward to voting in the 2024 presidential election from space.
They've sent in their requests for absentee ballots, which will be encrypted and downlinked to their local county clerks' offices. Both will have to list their current address as "low-Earth orbit," which is kind of adorable. So if voting on November 5 means standing in a long line or dealing with other inconvenient logistics, just take a second to look up into the sky and be grateful that you're not stuck in space for, like, eight months longer than intended.
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