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US spacefaring efforts have received extensive media attention in recent years, and research suggests that media consumption is related to audience members' support for space exploration in broad terms. The present study extends this line of investigation by testing how three different forms of media use – science fiction viewing, documentary viewing, and news media consumption – predict public attitudes about a range of government space policy endeavors. The initiatives examined include sending telescopes and robotic probes into space, sending astronauts to the Moon and Mars, monitoring asteroids and comets that might strike the Earth, searching for unidentified flying objects and extraterrestrial intelligence, and creating a Space Force. Building on theories of genre-specific cultivation, perceptual realism, narrative transportation, and framing, the analyses use data from two nationally representative surveys conducted in 2022 (N = 996 and N = 1,015). The results indicate that science fiction viewing, documentary viewing, and news use are related to support for US space endeavors, but these relationships differ across both specific media types and specific initiatives. The findings carry potential implications for understanding the future sustainability of space initiatives in terms of popular support.
Bingaman et al. (Fri,) studied this question.