On anniversary of moon landing, former astronauts say voting is Americans’ mission

Having completed four space flights and seven space walks, former NASA astronaut Steve Smith remembers all too well what it was like working alongside a crew of fellow astronauts who came from different walks of life.

“In space, nothing matters except the mission. Astronauts don’t ask each other what political party they’re part of or support. We just work together to get that important job done. The mission is all that matters,” said Smith.

“Now,” he continued, “our country is the mission. And our message is simple: Going to the polls is one small step for you and one giant leap for our country.”

That was part of Smith’s opening remarks during an event Monday, July 20, at the California Science Center in Los Angeles to kick off a months-long tour of college campuses across the country by former astronauts to encourage young people to become civically engaged and to vote this November.

The group behind the effort, Astronauts for America, is a nonpartisan organization made up of more than 100 former NASA astronauts. The organization’s stated mission includes working “to bridge divisions in our country” and to “uphold the constitutional principles and rule of law on which the United States was founded.”

The former astronauts who spoke during the event said — without naming specific individuals or events — that political developments over the years have raised concerns ranging from the potential non-peaceful transfer of power between elected officials to restrictions on voting rights to a free press being under siege.

Major General Charles Frank Bolden, Jr., a retired Marine and former NASA administrator, spoke of growing up in South Carolina and graduating around the time the Voting Rights Act passed in the mid-1960s.

“I look at what’s going on today, about people trying to restrict the ability of people to cast their ballot. That’s not who we are. That’s not America,” Bolden said.

Ellen Ochoa, an astronaut who later became the second woman to lead NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, also reminded the audience that women had to fight for their right to vote and said much of the last century was spent making sure barriers weren’t put up to prevent people from voting.

“When you consider that in depth, you realize, ‘I absolutely have to take this right seriously,’” she said about voting.

Asked after the event if Astronauts for America was a response to President Donald Trump and his administration, Smith said the idea behind the organization started last fall when two former astronauts living in L.A. witnessed an immigration raid at a car wash. They started talking to a few other former astronauts, and slowly the group built.

But Smith notes the organization consists of members from across the political spectrum and maintains its mission is nonpartisan.

“We said, ‘Let’s be nonpartisan. Let’s stay in the middle swim lane. And let’s encourage a better understanding of the Constitution and encourage young people to vote,’” he said.

Astronauts for America plans to send its members to college campuses across the country in the months leading up to the general election to educate and encourage young people to vote. The group hasn’t said exactly when or which campuses they’ll be visiting.

Smith said the organization will partner with voting rights or other well-known groups as part of this campaign, though he declined to name the groups yet.

Monday’s event, on the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, took place at the California Science Center, with the Space Shuttle Endeavour exhibit, which will open to the public later this year, as the backdrop.

Smith said he and the dozens of other former NASA astronauts assembled at the center on Monday understood the inherent risks of space flights yet signed up for them nonetheless “because of our collective love for our country.”

“That remains true today,” he said. “That’s why we’re here on July 20, the 57th anniversary of the moon landing, in order to launch another moonshot — this one designed to reunite our great country.”