Should NASA Return to the Moon? 73% Said "Yes"

July 06, 2009

This was a very interesting answer to a comparatively simple question. From the get-go, the survey was very general, and fairly unscientific, but I think it gauged the general feeling toward the planned NASA return mission to the lunar surface. As you may have guessed, the timing was no coincidence, as Discovery Space launched our Wide Angle: The Lunar Landings on Monday to celebrate the upcoming Apollo 11 mission 40th anniversary.

The majority (73%) of participants replied "Yes -- the Moon first, then we can use it as a stepping stone to Mars, later," 20% replied "No -- been there, done that, it's a waste of money, we should be focusing on Mars, now!" and 7% replied "Neither -- what's the point?"

956 people placed a vote, a much larger number than I was expecting!

One could argue that this poll was fairly limited in its scope -- after all, in all likelihood, it would have been mainly individuals who have an interest in space who would have voted -- but visitors from various social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube were asked to join in, plus readers of the Discovery Space pages, Discovery News and Space Disco.

As I discussed in a previous article, there are arguments for and against a NASA return mission to the moon. On the one hand, it would be advantageous to set up a lunar base, so we can use it as a human outpost, aiding our efforts at living in space. On the other hand, a return mission could be considered to be a waste of time and money, especially when Mars awaits the boots of the first astronaut. Perhaps both these options are wrong, and we shouldn't do either?

In this case, all 956 of you have provided a very convincing result; 699 of you want to see a NASA return trip to the moon for a huge variety of reasons. Although I promised to publish all your comments about this poll, there are hundreds of excellent responses, so I've decided to grab a selection, of which I'll publish in a forthcoming blog post...

But for now, thank you all for participating! Keep an eye open for further Space Disco articles, I have big plans for the results of this poll...

Comments

[charles kafka]

i have always been of the opinion we should be headed into outer space with the same fervor we all head out to war. Its great for the economy, more jobs, gets the human gene pool, out of our "one basket".
a physicist friend of mine wasn't so keen. His argument was " we are going to end up spread out among the stars anyway, a hundred , or a thousand more years. so whats the hurry"
We are going to be out there anyway. Can we justify a permanent settlement out on the moon with manufacturing, a low gravity launch base, minerals, far side telescope, research, moon exploration, and just cheap office space :-).

[Max]

If you look at it a certain way, only 7% are against manned spaceflight...
The rest are just arguing about the destination.

[Lauren]

Hello,

I have just discovered this amazing documentary called Moonwalk One-The Director’s Cut that was made in 1969 of the Apollo 11 space mission! It is a truly exciting story! The original director, Theo Kamecke, was the only civilian at the time to get an inside look at the NASA space mission, and consequently created a time capsule of the 1960s.

Forty years later, it turns out he has the only pristine copy of the original 35mm film. He has since re-mastered it to a high-definition film that provides for an excellent view of society at the time and the mission itself!

Make sure to get your copy in time for the 40th anniversary of man walking on the moon! I got my copy at www.amazon.com, and you can also order it at www.amazon.co.uk and www.moonwalk.com. It is great for space enthusiasts, students, and teachers!

Best wishes,
Lauren