With billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson slipping the surly bonds of earth — even for a few minutes — and another, Elon Musk, preparing for missions to Mars, a new survey shows a majority of Americans are excited about what’s to come.
Consumer research company Piplsay polled 30,470 Americans and 8,800 Britons to see what their thoughts are on space tourism, and 69% of Americans say they’re excited about it, compared to 55% of those in the U.K.
As for whom you’d trust with your first tour of space, it apparently breaks down by national pride: 29% of Americans say they’d go with American Bezos’ Blue Origins spacecrafts, compared to 16% of Britons. However, 26% of Americans would trust Branson’s Virgin Galactic ships, about even with the 25% support of his fellow Brits.
Of the 31% of Americans and 45% of Britons who said they were “not excited” by space tourism, 41% of Americans and 43% of those in the UK called the flights “just a joyride for the uber-rich.”
Twenty-seven percent of those in the U.S. and 30% of those in the UK called space tourism “a waste of money and resources.”
As for missions to Mars, the pioneering spirit of the U.S.A. was on display: 39% said it’s good the moguls are preparing for the future, as compared to just 25% of Brits, while 31% of Americans and 45% of the Britons polled say the billionaires should “focus on the Earth’s problems.”