Despite new setbacks in the American
space program, an 80% majority of Americans think we have not gone far enough
and that there is still much to learn about space exploration, according to a
recent CNBC/National Geographic EXPLORER poll.

The poll was conducted as part of National Geographic EXPLORER’s two-hour
television event, “Destination Space,” premiering on Sunday, June 18 at 8 p.m.
ET/PT only on CNBC.
A majority of those polled (51%) voiced continued support
for NASA and the space program as a good use of tax dollars.

    A further sampling of the poll reveals:
    -- 44% of those polled still rank the first lunar landing as one of the
       top two or three advancements in the last part of the 20th century,
       nearly 31 years after man first set foot on the moon.

    -- 42% of those polled believe that the most important reason to invest in
       the space program is scientific and medical research.

    -- Nearly one-third of those polled (32%) said they would be willing to
       vacation on the moon, while a close 37% opted for a beautiful beach.
       Only 20% would go to a foreign country.

    -- Nearly half (49%) of those polled believe that if we discover
       intelligent life in space, it will be friendly, but 61% say that
       intelligent life would not look like earthlings.

Host Boyd Matson will reveal more details about the CNBC/National
Geographic EXPLORER poll on the broadcast.
[To participate in a separate
space poll, go to nationalgeographic.com beginning June 11.]

Co-produced with Newsweek Productions, this special edition of National
Geographic EXPLORER goes beyond today’s rockets and space shuttles to a time
in the not-so-distant future when people will be living on the moon, mining
asteroids, vacationing on Mars and exploring planets and stars beyond our
galaxy.

What is our future in space?
National Geographic EXPLORER investigates
several possibilities in “Destination Space” — from bold spacecraft designs
to lunar colonies.
As we enter the next era of space travel, space is just
not for astronauts anymore.

Building on its reputation for remarkable visuals and compelling stories,
National Geographic Television (NGT) augments its award-winning documentary
production with new prime time drama, large-format and feature film
programming, as well as international broadcast and video distribution.
NGT
is partnered with NBC and Fox Entertainment to grow the National Geographic
Channels worldwide, currently operating in 64 countries and reaching over
53 million households.
National Geographic will launch a Channel in the U.S.
in the second half of 2000.
Presently, NGT programming can be seen in the
U.S. on CNBC and PBS networks as well as through syndication and home video.
NGT programming can be seen internationally through video distribution and
broadcast syndication in more then 100 different outlets in some
90 territories.

CNBC is the recognized global leader in televised business news, providing
real-time financial market coverage and business information to more than
150 million homes worldwide, with significant viewership out of the home by
professional and individual investors throughout the business day.
In the
U.S. alone, CNBC is distributed to more than 71 million households, providing
business news as a joint service of its parent, NBC, and Dow Jones, publisher
of the Wall Street Journal.
CNBC viewers can manage their individual
investment portfolios, and gain additional in-depth information from on air
reports, by accessing CNBC.com on the Worldwide Web.
In primetime, CNBC
provides broad-based news, talk and entertainment programming.
Weekends
feature entertainment and talk programming.

Peter Hart Research Associates, Inc. was commissioned by CNBC/National
Geographic EXPLORER to conduct the poll.
This study is based on a statistical
sample that provides a representative cross section of the adult population of
the United States, excluding Alaska and Hawaii.
The study was conducted by
telephone among a sample of 600 adults age 18 and older at 210 randomly
determined localities throughout the country on May 20 and 21, 2000.
The
overall results of this survey have a margin of error of +/- 4.1%.