{"id":10568,"date":"2019-07-17T07:00:11","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T12:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/how-americans-see-the-future-of-space-exploration-50-years-after-the-first-moon-landing\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T01:41:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T06:41:25","slug":"how-americans-see-the-future-of-space-exploration-50-years-after-the-first-moon-landing","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2019\/07\/17\/how-americans-see-the-future-of-space-exploration-50-years-after-the-first-moon-landing\/","title":{"rendered":"How Americans see the future of space exploration, 50 years after the first moon landing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Teens<\/a><\/p>\n

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Astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. in a photo taken by fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969, the day of their historic landing on the moon. (NASA\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n\n

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, which was the first time humans set foot on the moon. The United States remains the only country to have put people on the moon, and, as of 2018, the large majority of Americans consider it essential that the U.S. continue to be a leader in space exploration. However, many Americans do not think future manned trips to the moon \u2013 or to Mars \u2013 should be a high priority for NASA. Instead, they put higher priority on other roles such as monitoring Earth\u2019s climate or asteroids that could hit Earth.<\/p>\n\n

Here are six Pew Research Center findings about Americans\u2019 views of space travel.<\/p>\n\n

Most Americans think sending astronauts to Mars or the moon should be a lower priority for NASA \u2013 or say it should not be done at all. <\/strong>While a majority of Americans (58%) said in a 2018 survey that human astronauts are essential to the future of the U.S. space program<\/a>, less than one-in-five describe sending human astronauts to Mars (18%) or the moon (13%) as top<\/em> priorities for NASA. Americans are more likely to rate these goals as \u201cimportant but lower priorities\u201d (45% and 42%, respectively), or to say they are not important or should not be done at all (37% and 44%).<\/p>\n\n

NASA has not put a human on the surface of the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. But just last month, NASA announced plans<\/a> to put the first woman on the moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis program. The program also aims to put human beings on the surface of Mars by the 2030s<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

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Americans see priorities other than a moon or Mars landing as more pressing for NASA. About six-in-ten (63%) say one of the organization\u2019s top priorities should be using space to monitor key parts of Earth\u2019s climate system. About four-in-ten or more said other top priorities should include conducting basic scientific research to increase knowledge of space (47%) and developing technologies that could be adapted for other uses (41%).<\/p>\n\n

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\"Half<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Half of Americans think space travel will become routine during the next 50 years of space exploration. Private companies like Virgin Galactic and SpaceX have plans to take tourists<\/a> on suborbital space flights in the future. NASA also recently announced that it would open the International Space Station up for tourists<\/a>. For now, these trips will be prohibitively expensive for the average person \u2013 for example, Virgin Galactic\u2019s tickets cost about $250,000<\/a>, and NASA estimates one trip to the space station would cost about $58 million<\/a>. Still, half of Americans expect space travel to become routine by 2068.<\/p>\n\n

However, even if space travel does become commonplace, more than half of Americans (58%) say they would not<\/em> be interested in going<\/a>. People who aren\u2019t interested in orbiting the Earth in a spacecraft cite a number of concerns, including thinking it would be too expensive or scary or that their health or age would not allow for safe travel. Among the 42% who would be interested, the most common reason is that they want to experience something unique.<\/p>\n\n