American
support remains strong for NASA's plan to complete the International Space
Station (ISS), retire its shuttle fleet by decade's end and move on to the Moon
and Mars, according to poll results released Monday.
The new
survey - the last of a three-part series sponsored by the industry group the Coalition
for Space Exploration - found that more than two-thirds of Americans polled
support NASA's stepping-stone approach to returning astronauts to the Moon,
provided the effort's cost does not exceed more than one percent of the federal
budget.
"I think
the stability of the numbers over time is probably the most significant thing,"Jeff Carr, chairman of the Coalition of Space
Exploration, told SPACE.com of the
three surveys. "Our mission is to help
broaden the public's awareness of the value and benefits of space exploration."
NASA's
vision of space exploration calls for the U.S. space agency to complete ISS
construction - which resumed this month during the STS-115
shuttle mission - by 2010, then retire its shuttle fleet to make way for
the new Orion
spacecraft and its Ares
boosters. The next crewed missions to the Moon are slated for 2018
under the exploration plan.
The Princeton, New Jersey-based Gallup Organization conducted
the new poll for between Aug. 2 and Aug. 19 in a telephone survey of 1,000
adults of age 18 or older. The new poll follows similar surveys in March 2006
and June 2005.
In the most
recent poll, more than 60 percent of those surveyed stated they supported
NASA's human space exploration efforts.
Of the 63
percent of those polled stating that the U.S. should continue to fund NASA's
space exploration efforts, 32 percent said exploration should continue at the
current funding level, while 22 percent supported a slightly increased level
and nine percent preferred a significant funding increase.
NASA's Fiscal Year 2007
budget request calls for about $16.8 billion to support space exploration -
a one percent increase over 2006 - and represents a cost of about $58 per year
for the average taxpayer, coalition officials said.
The new Gallup poll also found
that about 69 percent of those surveyed agreed that the risks of human
spaceflight were worth the technical and scientific advancement stemming from
such an endeavor. A similar 69 percent also reported little or no concern that
the U.S. will lose its space
leadership role to China,
which has announced
plans to send probes to the Moon by 2017, with manned missions to follow by
2024.
"What we're finding is that, simply given the information
the public response is extremely favorable," Carr said. "And that's a
terrific sign for the vision."
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