Most Believe Humans Will Someday Colonize the Moon

Survey finds 41% of Americans would like to travel to the moon if money were no object - 32% would be willing to travel to Mars

A majority of Americans—63%—believe humans will establish a permanent colony on the moon someday, with 39% holding the belief it will come within 50 years, a new Zogby Interactive poll shows.

This is against that backdrop that Americans' interest in commercial space travel seems to be blooming. Three in ten Americans say they are interested in space tourism—slightly less than half the number who said they are interested in space exploration (66%). An even higher number (41%) said that if money weren't an issue, they would personally travel to the moon, while 32% said the same about a flight to Mars. The survey, which focuses on Americans' views on space, is featured in the May issue of Zogby's Real America newsletter. To subscribe, visit www.zogby.com.

Many Americans still revere NASA, the agency that put men on the moon. Forty-nine percent give the agency a positive job approval rating. And yet, nearly as many Americans—45%—express concerns that the shuttle fleet is too old, too expensive, and too frail to fly humans into space safely. And, while 34% rate the Apollo moon missions as the space agency's greatest achievement, the second-highest-rated achievement comes in the form of the Hubble Space Telescope, an unmanned satellite named by 18% in the poll.

The Zogby Interactive poll of 4,824 adults nationwide was conducted online from March 14-16, 2007 and carries a margin of error of +/- 1.4 percentage points.

While large percentages of Americans are receptive to commercial space travel, that doesn't signal a death knell for NASA. In fact, large majorities of Americans back a space program. Four in five said that it's important to America's international prestige to have a space program, and 71% oppose any cut to NASA's budget, while one in three Americans would back increasing NASA's funding levels.

In an era of space shuttle accidents and astronaut deaths, though, there is some hesitancy to boost men and women into orbit. While 80% of Americans see a space program as vital to America's international prestige, a lower 75% believe a manned program is necessary to this purpose.

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