adults expect that people will routinely travel in space as tourists in the next 50 years.

But relatively few Americans say it should be a top priority to send human astronauts to the moon or Mars. Monitoring the planet’s climate system also ranks highly as a priority for NASA.

NASA objectives: Monitoring asteroids that could potentially hit the Earth ranks at the top of the public’s priority list for NASA.

adults conducted May 30 to June 4, 2023, include: Other important findings from the survey of 10,329 U.S. The new survey takes a wide-ranging look at Americans’ attitudes toward space, including the contributions of private companies, priorities for NASA and public expectations for the next 50 years in space. A smaller share (32%) believe that private companies will ensure enough progress is made in space exploration, even without NASA’s involvement.

adults say it is essential that NASA continue to be involved in space exploration, the survey finds. space agency NASA has a critical role to play, even as private space companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are increasingly involved in space. Most Americans continue to believe that the U.S. China, a country many Americans view as a competitor, has goals of sending human astronauts to the moon and expanding its own space station. Today, more countries, such as India and China, are pursuing their own goals in space, which could challenge the U.S. In 1998, the International Space Station launch marked a highlight for international cooperation in space between the U.S., Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe. More than 50 years ago, space exploration was a race to the moon between the U.S. leadership role in space is widely held across groups, including by majorities of Republicans and Democrats alike. continue to be a world leader in space, while 30% say this is not an essential role for the country. In a changing world of space exploration defined by intensifying private efforts and competition between a growing number of nations, Americans continue to see an essential role for the United States as a leader in space exploration, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.Ībout seven-in-ten Americans say it is essential that the U.S. Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses, and its methodology. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adults from May 30 to June 4, 2023.Įveryone who took part in the survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. For this analysis, we surveyed 10,329 U.S. Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand Americans’ views of space issues.

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