Survey Reveals Which Planet Most People Want To Visit

When Frank Sinatra recorded the song "Fly Me to the Moon" in 1964, it struck a chord with the space-loving public following NASA's Apollo space program that was getting ready to literally fly American astronauts to the moon for the first time in history. Per the Endstation Theatre Company, the song was played on the Apollo 10 mission by Buzz Aldrin, making it the first music played on the moon. Fantasizing about seeing "what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars," as the lyrics say, has been a popular pastime for ages, and Grunge's recent poll asked 518 people around the United States: "Which planet would you like to visit the most?"

Coming in at No. 1 was Mars, with a full 35.91 percent of respondents selecting the iconic red planet as their celestial body of choice. NASA reports that they're in the process of developing several technologies that will bring sending people to Mars closer to reality, including new, more powerful propulsion systems to send missions there and back more quickly, inflatable heat shields to make extreme temperatures on places like Mars bearable, and new, high-tech spacesuits designed to serve as "custom spacecraft for astronauts," which will "be evolved for use anywhere in space." It sounds like Mars is not only the most popular planet for wannabe visitors, it's most likely to be the first planet to welcome human beings to its surface, although casual space tourism to Mars is a long way away.

Coming in as the second most popular planet to which people would like to travel is Jupiter, which took 20.46 percent of the vote. Can we chalk Jupiter's popularity up to the fact that it's the largest planet in the solar system? Per NASA, it's "more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined" and 11 Earths could fit across its equator. NASA also points out that Jupiter is a popular pop culture reference point — it was the "notable destination" in Lana and Lilly Wachowski's 2015 space drama Jupiter Ascending, and its many moons (53 named with another 26 awaiting official nomenclature) have served as settings in Cloud Atlas, Futurama, Power Rangers, and Halo. 

Other planets on people's travel wish lists include Venus with 15.25 percent of the vote, Neptune (8.11 percent), Uranus (6.37 percent), and Mercury (3.86 percent). Just over 10 percent of respondents picked "Other" as an option, and of those write-in choices, a surprisingly popular selection was Earth! Does this mean people are happy to stay where they are or is the truth out there concerning who's responding to Grunge's polls?