[ExI] Americans clueless on NASA budgets

[Stefano Vaj]

Americans clueless on NASA budgetsSpace: Not as expensive as you thinkBy Lucy
Sherriff<http://forms.theregister.co.uk/mail_author/?story_url=/2007/11/19/nasa_budgets/>
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More by this author<http://search.theregister.co.uk/?author=Lucy%20Sherriff>
Published Monday 19th November 2007 17:17 GMT

A recent survey, carried out on behalf of *The Space Review*, has revealed
that the average American believes a quarter of the country's public purse
goes towards funding NASA.

The survey found that most people reported the belief that NASA is almost as
well funded as the military. The Department of Defense does receive roughly
21 per cent of the nation's wonga, but most people overestimated this by a
further 12 per cent.

In reality, NASA gets something like 0.6 per cent of the natonal budget, a
fact which researchers report came as a surprise to those being surveyed.
According to *The Space Review*, one participant replied "No wonder we
haven't gone anywhere!".

The survey formed part of a larger
analysis<http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1000/1>of the costs and
benefits of having a publicly funded space agency. The
writers argue that people have scant knowledge of what NASA actually does.
Combined with the huge overestimates of the cost of running NASA, it is not
surprising that people often regard it as being poor value for money. (R)
Bootnote

We'd like to add, before the anti-American/pro-American flame wars begin,
that we're pretty sure similar levels of daftness pervade our own
population. Have you ever watched *Big Brother*? Probably best not to mock *
too* loudly. (R)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/19/nasa_budgets/
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