In 1993, the first market research on demand for space tourism was carried out in Japan, supported by the National Aerospace Laboratory ( NAL). That survey of 3030 Japanese people across all age groups revealed a surprisingly strong popular wish to visit space: more than 70% of those under 60 years old, and more than 80% of those under 40 years old stated that they would like to visit space at least once in their lifetime. Furthermore, some 70% of these said that they were prepared to pay up to three months salary for such a trip (1).
Despite the fact that the authors of the Japanese survey urged other countries to do similar research, no US survey was performed in the following two years. Consequently, NAL took steps to have a comparable survey carried out in the USA and Canada during August and September 1995. Although estimates have been published before, this is the first actual market research of its type to be conducted in America. The results illustrate that interest in travelling to space is also very high among North Americans, Overall, 60% of the people surveyed were interested in travelling to space for a vacation.