Public Support of Nasa

Public Support for NASA

Established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 , NASA believes in these words of Abraham Lincoln : With public sentiment nothing can fail without it nothing can succeed ( External Assessment ' Public Opinion of the American Space Program After all , NASA is dependent on public funding for its unspeakably expensive space programs . Even though the government has spent an immense amount of money on the Iraq War , and it is common knowledge that at least forty seven million people in the United States , including at least eight

million children cannot afford health insurance , NASA 's programs must continue . These space programs cost billions of dollars while the cost of providing health care for a single American child is far less . Therefore , public support for NASA must dwindle according to the times . The American public is pretty wise as far as funding for NASA 's space programs is concerned . This is the reason why public support for NASA slipped during the year 2001 after its rise in the 1990s (David

Despite the current trade deficit of the United States - a loud and clear message that American consumption is beyond control - as well as the health care failures confronting the country besides the overuse of public funding on the Iraq War the famous Gallup Poll has revealed that the American public is by and large supportive of NASA at present (Jones . The Gallup Poll report published in 2007 reads

NASA astronauts are currently in space for a two-week mission to continue work on the

International Space Station . The mission is historic from the standpoint that women are the

commanders of the two crews in space . A recent Gallup Poll finds the majority of

Americans giving NASA positive marks for the job it is doing . The current ratings are

little changed from recent years , and from a longer-term perspective the public has

generally rated NASA positively

According to the Sept . 14-16 poll , 56 of Americans rate the job NASA is doing in

positive terms , with 16 saying it is doing an excellent ' job and 40 a good ' job

Meanwhile , just 8 say it is doing a poor job , with most of the rest describing NASA 's

performance as only fair

These attitudes are similar to what Gallup measured in 2006 (57 positive ratings for

NASA ) and 2005 (53 and 60 positive ratings in two polls

In fact , NASA has had less-than-majority positive evaluations just twice since 1990 , when

Gallup first asked this question . The initial 46 rating in July 1990 came shortly after a flaw

in the Hubble telescope was discovered . Gallup measured the historical low rating of 43 in

September 1993 after a series of mishaps , which included the loss of contact with the Mars

Orbiter and a couple of last-second decisions to scrub planned space shuttle missions

The high point in NASA 's ratings came in November 1998 , shortly after Sen . John Glenn -

- one of the earliest U .S . astronauts -- made a much-heralded return trip...