Abstract With the hindsight of more than 40 years of human space exploration experience, public support for space is essential to sustaining government funding for space endeavors. Poll after poll shows that the public is generally supportive of space exploration, but that support is passive and shallow. Although space is integrated into many facets of daily life, the general public’s knowledge of space activities is not commensurate with the benefits derived from them. The public’s concept of the cost of space endeavors or the extent of taxpayer investment in space is generally erroneous. Space agencies, the aerospace industry, and space-related entities need to communicate better the contributions of space to society and the excitement of space exploration and discovery. In March 2001, a Working Group of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) considered ways to promote public awareness of the benefits and excitement of space activities; its findings and recommendations are presented in this paper. Without significant improvements in public outreach coordination, the future of human spaceflight beyond the International Space Station (ISS) will be hard to sell to the legislators who must underwrite the major share of the initial costs of humanity’s sustained progression beyond low Earth orbit. The AIAA Working Group recognized that it will take time and effort to coordinate a long-term commitment to an international outreach and communication strategy. International discussions should begin without delay to enhance efforts to garner public support for human spaceflight activities aboard the ISS, and to map out a broad plan with national and international elements to educate the public and harness support for the potential of human spaceflight beyond the ISS.
Public Outreach: Garnering Support for Future Human Space Exploration
2002-01-01
8 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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