© NASA | Archival photo of an American astronaut performing a spacewalk outside the International Space Station.
A recent survey conducted by CBS and YouGov indicates significant public approval in the United States for sending American astronauts to explore the Moon and Mars. Nearly 70% of U.S. residents expressed a positive outlook on such endeavors.
The poll results specifically show that 67% of Americans endorse the idea of sending astronauts to the Moon, while 65% support missions to Mars. Support for a repeat mission to Earth`s natural satellite is particularly high among young adults aged 18 to 29, with 71% expressing approval. Furthermore, 77% of respondents believe that the pioneering 1969 Moon mission “was worth the effort.”
Interestingly, only 29% of those surveyed consider the American space program a significant source of national pride. Another 44% expressed less enthusiasm, and 27% either did not see it as a source of pride at all or attached minimal importance to it in this context.
The survey was carried out from June 18-23 among 2,404 adult Americans, with a margin of error of 2.6 percentage points.
Meanwhile, Politico previously reported, citing internal documents, that over two thousand senior employees at NASA, the U.S. space agency, could face layoffs. These potential reductions are attributed to the White House`s policy of decreasing government expenditures. Politico highlighted concerns that substantial staff reductions at NASA might leave the administration without the necessary expert personnel to execute its ambitious plans for sending astronauts to the Moon by mid-2027, and subsequently to Mars.
For the 2026 fiscal year, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed a drastic cut to NASA`s science program budget, nearly halving it from $7.4 billion to $3.9 billion. If approved, this would represent the lowest level of science funding in the agency`s history. Among other proposals, the White House also suggested discontinuing NASA`s Mars Sample Return mission, deeming the project excessively expensive and outdated.
In April 2024, American billionaire and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated that the colonization of Mars would require at least one million people and several million tons of cargo. He believes this could be transported to the Red Planet within 20 years, with the project primarily relying on the Starship 3 rocket.
Rupert Blackwood 
Clement Ashworth