NASA's Quest for Human Spaceflight Popular Appeal*

Abstract

Objective. Analyze NASA's efforts to "sell" both its mission and its successes from its origins in 1958 to the present. Methods. Use public opinion polling and qualitative sources to establish change over time. Results. Study suggests that NASA's public support was less important than most have previously asserted, and that the overall activities of NASA have been advanced by a small base of supporters, challenged by a small group of opponents, and sustained by a larger number of people who accept a status quo in space exploration. Conclusion. A general public lack of support for expending many dollars on spaceflight has been a fundamental reality of NASA since its beginning. It is not changing, and probably not changeable, in the predictive future. Accordingly, NASA's quest for human spaceflight's popular appeal remains an elusive goal.

The nutshell kings: Why is human space settlement controversial in the first place?

“…Launius (2017). Note the gloomy conclusion of this ambitious study: "A general public lack of support for expending many dollars on spaceflight has been a fundamental reality of NASA since its beginning.…”

From Value to Valuation: Pragmatist and Hermeneutic Orientations for Assessing Science on the International Space Station

“…Space historians and space policy experts have dwelled on the issue of public support for space activities for years (McCurdy, 1990 ; Logsdon, 2005 ; Launius, 2006 , 2017 ), and they frequently do so naturalizing some of NASA’s own categories. That is, invoking a notion of “the American public,” arguing for or against a set of rationales for human spaceflight, taking for granted that “return on investment” is the unavoidable framework of assessment, and ultimately relying on tactical – almost “realpolitik” – assumptions about the actors and institutions involved.…”