Posted: Tue, Feb 18, 2003, 8:04 PM ET (0104 GMT)
A poll published this week by the Gallup Organization shows that the American public is still strongly supportive of NASA and the shuttle program despite the Columbia tragedy. The poll, commissioned by CNN and USA Today, found that 25% of respondents wanted NASA's funding increase, while 49% believe the agency's funding should remain at currently levels. Only 17% said the agency's budget should be cut. That level of support was somewhat higher than the last poll conducted by Gallup in December 1999, after the failures of the Mars Polar Lander and Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft. The same poll showed that 52% of people believed that NASA should concentrate on manned missions, versus 37% who preferred unmanned missions; those figures were similar to the last poll from November 1998. Seven percent of people said NASA should concentrate on both, even though that was not one of the options given in the poll question. The poll also revealed that 31% of people would be interested in flying on the shuttle, down only slightly from when the question was last asked in 1991. Men were more likely to support increased funding for NASA or be willing to fly on the shuttle than women. The poll results were based on a survey of 1,000 adults in the US February 7-9.

Related Links:

•  SPACE.com article
•  Gallup press release