Florida: As the race for White House hots-up, there comes a symbolic gesture, which both Republicans and Democrats would come together to appreciate.

Leroy Chiao, an astronaut at the international space station (about 360 kms above land), became the first citizen of America to exercise his franchise from space in a Presidential election.

As the polls opened on Tuesday (Nov 2, 2004) Chiao sent an encrypted ballot via e-mail to Mission Control office in Houston, which was forwarded to the election office of his County in Texas.

Earlier, during 1997 Houston Mayoral polls, another astronaut David Wolf had voted from space from Russia's Mir space station.