![[OC] Would Britons want to visit the Moon?](https://www.byteseu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/5xvuucfnnjsg1-1024x811.png "[OC] Would Britons want to visit the Moon?")
As Artemis II prepares to blast off for a trip around the Moon, taking humans outside of lower Earth orbit for the first time since 1972, we decided to look at whether the British public would want to go the Moon themselves, if they were given a chance where their safe return to Earth could be guaranteed.
It turns out, it's a surprisingly divisive hypothetical – 44% of Britons say they would take up the opportunity, while 49% say they would turn it down.
Among those who wouldn't want to go, a simple lack of interest is the most common reason (23%), with others saying there would be no point (8%) or that there is nothing to do there (6%).
Personally, if your safety could be guaranteed, I think it would be worth the trip, just to see the Earthrise, if nothing else. What about you?
See all the data here: https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/54460-how-do-britons-feel-about-going-to-the-moon
Tools: PowerPoint, Datawrapper
Posted by YouGov_Dylan
28 Comments
I certainly wouldn’t want to spend a month in a box even if it did mean walking on the moon for 10 minutes in a space suit.
I think it would be a fascinating experience, but I am not sure I would be interested in doing it without it becoming more… Comfortable.
The idea of being locked in a fridge for what would likely be a few weeks is… not a fun one, to me. And I am not claustrophobic.
Who the hell wouldn’t want to go to the moon?
Well yes how can one truly enjoy tea when you’re sipping out of a bag..
“Do you want to do this potentially dangerous and uncomfortable thing for very little payback?” Men and young people: SURE! Women and older people: nah…
One of the most unique experiences a human has ever had? Absolutely count me in
If it were possible? Yes definitely!
This is mostly a study of British humor
Would. I just wished the toilet situation was better. (But I also wish that even at home)
The fact that the safe return is guaranteed and still people would decline boggles my mind a bit.
I assume people still attribute risk to the journey despite that.
I’m forbidden from ever wanting to go to space because of a dream my wife had a decade ago.
How miserable do you have to be to say no? Jesus.
And you can’t “reject the premise of safe return”, it’s a hypothetical where your safety is literally guaranteed. People are stupid.
Some people don’t want to because the trip back and forth would be dangerous or boring, but I would do it just for that part. If I had a chance to ride a rocket ship and see space, even without the possibility of walking on the moon, I’d do it in a heartbeat
Is no one going to comment on how the data is depicted? Imho It’s simply wonderful!
I read all of the reasons listed in the second slide in Karl Pilkington’s voice.
I would, but only during nighttime obviously
These results get funnier if you imagine the alternatives to not going – as if people are stressed over whether a 3-day trip to the moon would disrupt a Teams work meeting on Monday morning.
On one hand I would absolutely want to go.
On the other, if the moon becomes so accessible that I am able to go, then we’re at a point where space travel is so simple that it’s a daily part of life and it would the the equivalent of bobbing over to a nearby city. Still a nice time, but tame in comparison
Certain times of the month it’s very small. I’d worry they’d miss it.
I go against the grain, as usual, as a 68yo woman I’d love to go.
I flew to Ireland as a baby in a Dakota in 1957 as Sputnik orbited the earth.
Yuri Gagarin came to Manchester in 61, my dad worked at Metro Vick, Gagarin said “it was like a vision of hell. Smoke, fire and tiny thin men silhouetted against the foundry fire. No one was fat; they were all thin like Lowry’s match stick men”. Of all his time in Britain, it was this time surrounded by working men and women amongst the dirt and grime of a working foundry that Gagarin would later say, he felt most at home.
I remember the early rocket launches, Valentina Tereshkova the first woman in space, then of course the Apollo missions, 8 and of course 13 were memorable but watching humans on the surface of the moon was truly amazing.
The chance to leave the earth, get a glimpse of the vastness of space and fly around the moon… Yes please.
I’m taking some crackers, cheese, and a football. Football for laugh, hopefully I can kick it more than once. Then some crackers and cheese to reenact the Wallace and Gromit scenes.
I will never want to go to the moon. I get sick on ships, trains and buses, so I suspect 0G would lead me to propel myself through space by the force of my vomit.
Now a short visit to space to try it for an hour would be nice. but a 3+ day trip? Absolutely not.
The ‘health and disability’ group probably includes me (mostly thinking about the faff of medication and unpredictably variable conditions) but this morning I’ve got horrible backache and I’m wondering how zero gravity acts on slipped/compressed discs. If positively, sign me up.
Absolute perfect presentation of the numbers. This has to be the best diagram of the month if not the year.
I think this is almost a direct proxy for openness to experience and risk-taking as personality traits. Especially since it’s increased for men and young people.
I wouldn’t want to go to the moon for the same reason I wouldn’t want to summit Everest or dive to the bottom of the Mariana trench.
I’m not a geologist or a marine biologist. And I’m certainly not a selenographer.
It’s just bragging rights. Which is the reason those pictures of hundreds of climbers waiting to summit Everest exist. Or those daft sods who died on that sub trying to reach Titanic.
Enough people rejected the *premise of the fucking question* that they’d be returned safe guaranteed that it has a whole crater? This survey pmo
As I get older, my interest in going to the moon is fading as well.