The American People Want Space Innovation
- Sean Mahoney
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Here in the comfort of the Space Bubble, many of us know the history of US space program. Outside, however, we know that the common perceptions of space can vary widely.
To understand the attention and opinion of the US public, The Space Frontier Foundation commissioned an external poll in December 2025.
The results indicate that there is broad awareness and strong support for commercial led over traditional government directed space programs.
Seeing results showing the The Foundation’s vision reflected back is another step forward towards a freer and more prosperous life that space provides to humanity.
Survey Questions and Results
When it comes to space travel and missions to places like the moon or Mars, NASA has historically used rockets that could only be used one time and then had to be replaced. New technology allows rockets to be used multiple times, saving both money and resources. Which sorts of rockets should NASA primarily use?
21% Traditional, single-use rockets
65% Modern, reusable rockets
14% Not sure
How closely are you following news about private companies launching rockets into space?
12% Very closely
35% Somewhat closely
32% Not very closely
21% Not at all closely
1% Not sure
NASA has worked with Boeing for many years to develop its Space Launch System. The first launch took more than a decade and cost about $64 billion. Over that same period, private companies have launched hundreds of rockets at a far lower cost. Should the U.S. continue to partner with Boeing on its own, government owned rockets, or should the government buy rockets from private companies if they can achieve better results at a lower cost?
41% The U.S. should continue to partner with Boeing on its own rocket
44% The U.S. should buy rockets from private companies
14% Not sure
The Trump Administration wants to modernize the space program and get back to the moon, while cutting costs. The current, government-built system is powered by rocket engines that were built in the 1980s and cost billions of dollars to be used only once, while newer, commercial-built rockets reduce costs by being fully reusable, self-landing, and rapidly reflyable. How important is it for America to redirect its investment in space from government-built to commercially-build rockets?
34% Very important
38% Somewhat important
14% Not very important
6% Not at all important
8% Not sure
Methodology
This survey of 1,000 Registered Voters was conducted online by Scott Rasmussen on December 10-11, 2025. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. Certain quotas were applied, and the sample was lightly weighted by geography, gender, age, race, education, internet usage, and political party to reasonably reflect the nation’s population of Registered Voters. Other variables were reviewed to ensure that the final sample is representative of that population.
The margin of sampling error for the full sample is +/- 3.1 percentage points.
Data/Crosstabs
Survey data crosstabs available at this link on Google Drive.
Data License: The survey results and crosstabs provided here are licensed under CC BY 4.0. You are free to share and adapt this data, provided you give appropriate credit to The Space Frontier Foundation and link to this original post.