Public Opinion About Space Exploration - Nasa Woos The American Public

NASA employs a number of public relations tools designed to interest and excite people about space travel. Since its inception the Agency has recognized that public support is crucial to fostering a successful long-term space program.

Television

Throughout the Space Age NASA has used television as a publicity tool to try to spark greater interest in the space program. Television turned out to be one of the greatest public relations tools of the Apollo program. In 1968 the Apollo 7 astronauts conducted the first live television interview from space. All of the remaining Apollo flights carried television cameras. The worldwide television FIGURE 9.9
Public opinion poll on the benefit of the space program, 1979, 1994, and 1999 audience for the Apollo 11 moon landing was estimated at half a billion people.

In July 1999 the Gallup Organization polled Americans about their memories of the first manned lunar landing by Apollo 11. The survey found that 76 percent of people aged 35 and up claimed to have watched the event on television as it happened.

NASA's Web Site

NASA operates one of the most colorful and elaborate web sites of any federal agency. It includes thousands of mission photographs and millions of documents related to the nation's space endeavors. The web site provides detailed information about NASA facilities, programs, and missions. There are a variety of multimedia features, including interactive displays, video and audio downloads, and spectacular images of Earth and space captured by NASA spacecraft. Enormous historical archives that include documentation dating back to the earliest days of space travel are available online.

According to NASA, the web site is visited millions of times each day. The number of "hits" increases dramatically during highly publicized missions. For example, NASA reported receiving 6.53 billion hits between January 4, 2004 and February 19, 2004. This period of time coincides with the highly successful landings of the Mars Exploration rovers on Mars.

SIGHTING OPPORTUNITIES.

One of the ways that NASA tries to engage public interest in space travel is by posting sighting opportunities for its satellites, particularly the International Space Station (ISS) and any ongoing shuttle missions. The NASA web site instructs people how and where to look in the nighttime sky to see the spacecraft passing overhead. Figure 9.10 shows a set of instructions for viewing the ISS at a particular location, assuming that skies are clear enough.

The listing identifies the exact date and time at which the ISS should become visible to observers on the ground and how long it will remain visible. It also gives information about the station's location in the sky based on direction (north, south, east, or west) and angle of elevation compared to the horizon. A spacecraft flying directly overhead would be at 90 degrees maximum elevation.

In the example shown the ISS is to first appear in the west-southwest (WSW) direction approximately 10 degrees above the horizon. It will then climb to a maximum elevation of 66 degrees above the horizon and travel out of sight heading toward the northeast (NE). It should disappear from view about 31 degrees above the horizon. This progression is illustrated in the diagram at the top of Figure 9.10.

NASA says that a spacecraft looks like "a steady white pinpoint of light moving slowly across the sky." Viewers are urged to observe spacecraft with the naked eye or through binoculars. The speed at which the spacecraft are moving makes telescope viewing impractical.

NASA's website provides links to sighting data for 672 cities around the world. People at locations not listed can use an applet (a small application program) called SkyWatch to enter their latitude and longitude and receive viewing information. SkyWatch includes information about thousands of objects known to be in orbit around Earth, including obsolete satellites, rocket casings, and other large space debris.