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Orbiting 250 miles above the US in the international space station, astronaut Cady Coleman did not look down and see red or blue states, sanctuary cities or communities occupied by thousands of federal immigration enforcement agents in camouflage uniforms and automatic weapons.
What she saw was a single land, from Pacific to Atlantic, no borders or partitions, just a united America, and a population valuing its equality while convinced that what brought them together was far greater than anything that divided them.
It is that unique perspective, witnessed only by a few hundred people in history, that led Coleman and dozens of other retired Nasa colleagues to form Astronauts for America, a nonpartisan advocacy group of fellow space explorers.
Launched, pun intended, to coincide with the 2026 semiquincentennial of the US, the out-of-this-world alliance wants to restore faith in, and support of, the country’s constitutional democracy. It seeks to encourage politicians and the public to commit to the principles of the constitution itself, something its members believe has fallen into a sort of a black hole in recent months and years.
Or, as Coleman puts it, “being willing to speak out when we know something isn’t right”.
She said: “All 108 of us, we’re very different people from each other. Some of us have very different politics and we certainly each have our own opinions about the current administration, about past administrations.
“But during my spaceflights, in looking at all the patches and the names on my astronaut jacket, I literally didn’t know and never asked about their politics. It was just not part of the mission.
“The fact is now we’re all together, and what we’re fighting for is something that’s common to all of us, we’re fighting for our country, for our democracy, and for decision making, and restoring the faith in our institutions.”
Coleman, 65, who flew two space shuttle missions and spent a total of 180 days in space, including a lengthy tour of duty on the ISS between 2010 and 2011, will join colleagues on Astronauts for America’s Vote for Freedom campaign this summer and fall.
Ahead of November’s midterm elections, they plan to tour about 60 college and university campuses, many in swing states, talking to young and first-time voters and encouraging them to exert their right to be part of the country’s democracy.
“Every one of these voters can change the course of our nation, it’s like making a course correction in space,” she said.
“My astronaut colleague Ron Garan gives this example, a small adjustment now is a large distance later, like getting to the moon or not. A small course correction now can really mean big things as the ship continues on its course.”
The who’s who of Astronauts for America includes some standout names. There are dozens of space shuttle crew members from that program’s 135 missions, including Charles Bolden and Bill Nelson, who both went on to become Nasa administrators, and in Nelson’s case, a US senator.
The oldest is Rusty Schweickart, 90, who flew on Apollo 9 in March 1969, four months before the first moon landing.
Bolden, a retired marine corps major general who flew four shuttle missions between 1986 and 1994, is one of the most outspoken of the group, having served as head of Nasa for both of Barack Obama’s terms of office to January 2017.
“All of us have been kind of watching the deterioration in the US over the last few decades,” he said. “It seems like every president issues more and more executive orders because they can’t get action out of Congress, or they don’t want action out of Congress.
“I was upset when President Obama started relying on executive orders. I understood the reason, I was in the administration and saw the incalcitrance of Congress and their desire not to give him any wins, so I could understand where he was coming from.
“But still, that’s not in accordance with the constitution.”
Bolden said that “failure to adhere to the constitution the way we think the framers intended it” placed the country in peril, as well as more recent assaults on democratic norms by the Trump administration.
“We may not make it if we don’t do something now,” he said. “We may not have another presidential term to try to make a difference.”
Linda Godwin, a scientist whose four shuttle missions spanned 10 years and 38 days in space, and two space walks between 1991 and 2001, is on the group’s steering committee plotting its strategy, which includes plans to “grade” midterm congressional candidates on their commitment to constitutional principles.
“As astronauts, perhaps we would have a voice,” she said. “Not that we’re necessarily more knowledgeable or smarter or anything like that, but we have a background in which we participated in big missions that depended on truth and accountability, and evidence, and trust.
“We worked with people who have many different opinions on different things, and we know how to work together to get the mission done. And we kind of felt like, you know, right now, we think our country is the mission.”
The astronauts met on 20 July at the California Science Center to launch their Freedom to Vote campaign, a rare gathering of many of the nation’s space pioneers on the 57th anniversary of the 20 July 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing.
The occasion and date were full of poignancy for those present, turning their inspirational past experiences into a message of hope for the future, with a meticulously planned checklist to try to achieve it, just like the scores of missions they once flew.
“It’s important to speak up when things are happening in our country that are moving us away from the democratic society that we all grew up with, and that we all supported as government employees as well,” said Ellen Ochoa, another four-time shuttle flier who was the first Latina in space in 1993, and the first person to play the flute there.
“One reason we’re reaching out at college campuses is that for a lot of the students this might be their first opportunity to vote, or they may not be in the habit of voting and not thought too much about exercising this right.
“The message is it’s really important to vote. That’s the most important right you have in a democracy. And it’s also not only a right, but I feel it’s really a responsibility. A democracy depends on the people actively participating, and this is the single most important thing that people can do.”
The assembled astronauts agreed on Monday on a single, space-themed statement all of them could use to encapsulate the purpose of their voting campaign.
They did not disappoint: “Going to the polls is one small step for you, and one giant leap for our country.”
English (US) ·