Lunar Landing

In a May 1961 speech, President John F. Kennedy announced an ambitious goal for the nation: “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth” before the decade was out. The nation responded, and the United States accomplished that goal 50 years ago this month. In 1959, the Gallup Organization asked Americans whether a man would land on the moon by 1980. Fifty-two percent of those surveyed thought the landing would happen, but 39 percent of respondents were skeptical. 

A May Pew Research Center survey reveals that more respondents spontaneously name the space program or landing a man on the moon as the United States’ greatest achievement in the past half-century. Our enthusiasm for space exploration has survived significant setbacks such as the Challenger and Colombia disasters. Our support for a space program, however, is almost always greater than our willingness to pay for it.

Source: The Gallup Organization, 1959.