Kansas Among States Who Want To Go To Space The Most

Fact Checked by Thomas Leary

It’s been more than 50 years since Neil Armstrong broke barriers by becoming the first person to step foot on the moon.  

Over the proceeding half-century, the desire of Americans to venture beyond the bounds of Earth to explore outer space has only gotten stronger, especially in states like Kansas.  

With National Space Day coming up on Friday and the crazy amount of interest in traveling to space over the past few years, we decided to look at which states’ residents are looking to travel to space.  

With Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos both launching companies and showing interest in going to space, the topic has become a big talking point for people across the U.S. According to a survey of 1,020 people aged 18 to 64, Statista.com reported in 2019 that around 75% of U.S. residents are either very interested or moderately interested in “space exploration.”  

Utilizing Google Trends, BetKansas.com, your home to Kansas sports betting, looked at which states have been searching for the terms “Can I Go To Space” “How To Go To Space” and “Travel To Space” during the last 12 months. Once receiving the data from each term, we averaged out the data to receive our top 10 states.  

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States With Most Interest In Going To Space

Rank State Level Of Interest In Search Terms
1 Oklahoma 91
2North Carolina 83
3 Virginia 82
T4Rhode Island 79
T4 Nebraska 79
6 Kansas 77
7Washington 75
8 South Carolina 74
T9Colorado 72
T9 Utah 72


Kansas Among Leading States For Space Interest

The Sunflower State’s connection with outer space travel is strong, with Kansas ranking in the top 10 by our metrics surrounding exploring the great beyond.  

Overall, Kansas ranked sixth nationally by search interest surrounding space travel, at 77, coming in behind states like Oklahoma (91), North Carolina (84), Virginia (82), Rhode Island and Nebraska (79 apiece) nationally.  

The Sunflower State did finish ahead of other states, such as Washington (75), South Carolina (74), Colorado and Utah (72 apiece), giving further proof of the level of interest there is in Kansas for space travel.  

With such trips being more and more available by the day, maybe someday soon the average Kansas resident will be able to venture to the outer space.  

For now, at least Kansas residents can take solace in knowing that their desire to go to outer space is shared by many of their neighbors.  

Author

Christopher Boan is a lead writer at BetKansas.com specializing in covering state issues. He covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years.

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