spacetoday.net: Poll shows continued support for NASA and shuttle program

Posted: Tue, Jul 29, 2003, 9:14 AM ET (1314 GMT)
A poll released Monday shows that the American public continues to support NASA and the shuttle program. The poll, conducted by ICR/International Communications Research for the Associated Press, revealed that 73 percent of those asked believed that the Us should continue to send humans into space, and 68 percent believed that the shuttle should continue to fly. Those polled were less enthusiastic about sending civilians into space on the shuttle, with 56 percent agreeing that it was a good idea. They were mixed about future directions for the space program, with 49 percent agreeing that sending humans to Mars should be a goal of the US space program. The poll is the second one published in just over a week regarding Americans' opinions about the space program. The Zogby International poll, commissioned by the Houston Chronicle, had somewhat different results, with 54 percent of those asked in that poll believing that the shuttle should remain grounded until the future of the US space program is redefined.