spacetoday.net: Poll shows interest in space tourism among affluent

Posted: Tue, May 21, 2002, 10:15 AM ET (1415 GMT)
Dennis Tito after Soyuz landing

A poll released Monday shows that substantial numbers of affluent Americans are interested in space tourism. The poll by Zogby International, commissioned by the Futron Corporation, found that 19 percent of well-to-do Americans expressed an interest in suborbital flights at an estimated price of $100,000, while seven percent were interested in a week-long orbital flight to the International Space Station, like those taken by Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth for $20 million each. The poll was given only to those people with an annual income of at least $250,000 and/or net worth of over $1 million, an effort to judge interest only from those people able to afford such flights. Nearly half said they would be more interested in an orbital flight if they could fly to an orbital facility dedicated to space tourism and other commercial enterprises, while over half indicated that the ability to train in the US, rather than Russia, would make them more willing to sign up. The poll is part of a larger effort by Futron to better understand space tourism and other emerging space markets.