Public Opinion About Space Exploration - Should Space Travel Be A National Priority?

History shows that space travel was a national priority during the 1960s. President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon Johnson were convinced that putting a man on the Moon was vital to America's political interests during the Cold War. They convinced Congress to devote billions of dollars to the effort. At the time, the public was not very enthusiastic about the idea. According to the Gallup organization, most polls they conducted during the FIGURE 9.3
Public opinion poll on the future influence of various technological achievements, 2003 1960s showed that less than 50 percent of Americans considered the endeavor worth the cost.

In 1967 civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., said "Without denying the value of scientific endeavor, there is a striking absurdity in committing billions to reach the moon where no people live, while only a fraction of that amount is appropriated to service the densely populated slums."

King's sentiment sums up very well a moral question that has always plagued the space program. Is it right for a nation to spend its money on space travel while there are people suffering on Earth?

NASA would argue that its budget comprises only a tiny fraction of the nation's total spending. Figure 2.1 in chapter 2 shows that in 2003 NASA received less than 1 percent of the federal budget and has been near this level since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.

In August 2003 Gallup asked 1,003 adults their thoughts about government spending on NASA. The results are shown in Figure 9.4. About 48 percent said that NASA's budget should remain at its current level, while 23 percent thought it should be increased. Another 21 percent thought NASA's budget should be decreased, and 5 percent wanted to end NASA completely. Support for increasing NASA's funding was strongest among men, younger people, and those with advanced degrees.

Gallup has been asking this same poll question since 1984. As shown in Figure 9.5 the percentage of people FIGURE 9.4
Public opinion poll on funding NASA, August 2003 wanting to increase NASA's budget has varied between 10 and 27 percent over time. Consistently, the largest group of people (41 to 51 percent) has advocated maintaining the Agency's budget at its existing level. Support for decreasing NASA's budget rose dramatically during 1993, reaching a high of 41 percent. (See Figure 9.6.) At the time, NASA was under fire for problems aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. The $1.5 billion observatory had been launched into space with an optical defect in its mirrors. In late 1993 a shuttle servicing mission had to be performed for astronauts to correct the problem.

Between 1993 and 2003 the percentage of people wanting to decrease NASA's budget dropped from a high of almost 10 percent. Support for ending NASA has historically hovered between 3 and 10 percent.

There are many programs competing for funding in the federal budget. During the August 2003 survey, Gallup asked poll participants if money should be taken away from the space program and devoted to other programs instead. The answers varied widely, depending on the program against which space travel was paired.

FIGURE 9.5
Public opinion poll on maintaining or increasing level of NASA funding, January 1984–August 2003

The largest number of respondents (74 percent) would transfer money from the space program to increase funding for healthcare. National defense was also a pressing priority, with 60 percent of those asked willing to take money away from the space program for national defense. Only 38 percent of poll participants wanted to increase funding for the nation's welfare program at the expense of the space program.