Apollo program cost approx 25 billion dollars, roughly $200 billion
This was for EVERYTHING-- the R&D, the government contracts, the labor, the promotion — the budget for all parts of a decade-long program.
This was for EVERYTHING-- the R&D, the government contracts, the labor, the promotion — the budget for all parts of a decade-long program.
https://twitter.com/bbalkus/status/1465706658588282880
And that included the cost of INVENTING FROM SCRATCH all new space technology that had never been developed or tested before in human history
We’re talking rocket engines, command modules, lunar landers, computer equipment, all the incredible component parts
We’re talking rocket engines, command modules, lunar landers, computer equipment, all the incredible component parts
Within each broad category (eg, rocket engines) you have the incredible volume of subcategories (eg, multiple rockets for different stages of launch, plus ascent engines versus descent engines)
SLS (short for “Space Launch System”), has already cost $22 BILLION DOLLARS, after TEN YEARS in development, AND IT STILL HAS NOT GOTTEN OFF THE GROUND
This is just one small fraction of the mission. No lunar lander, no spacesuits, no moon buggies, none of the incredible volume of other separate mission aspects, and it is single-handedly cost more than 10% of the entire Apollo budget with inflation adjustment.
And that’s just costs TO DATE! It hasn’t even had a single successful test yet! It could cost $50 billion, or $100 billion, and never even launch.
It gets worse!
We already spent billions trying to get to the moon in the failed Constellation program launched by Bush, before Obama canceled it
Bush said we’d be on the moon last year (2020)
We already spent billions trying to get to the moon in the failed Constellation program launched by Bush, before Obama canceled it
Bush said we’d be on the moon last year (2020)
None of the parts of the Artemis Program are done, or even remotely close to being done
We have no rocketship. We have no rocket engine. We have no lunar lander. We have no spacesuits. Nothing.
We have no rocketship. We have no rocket engine. We have no lunar lander. We have no spacesuits. Nothing.
Apollo’s peak spending year was 1966, 3 years before the first moon launch, ostensibly because “the research and development” was done by then
(reality is Congress and Prez Johnson lost faith in NASA, and threatened its budget)
(reality is Congress and Prez Johnson lost faith in NASA, and threatened its budget)
We've done it before, and presumably have “the hard part” in the rear view mirror
If it cost $200 billion in the 1960s, it should cost a tiny fraction to replicate in 2021
The cost efficiencies of more advanced technology should offset the cost of inflation
If it cost $200 billion in the 1960s, it should cost a tiny fraction to replicate in 2021
The cost efficiencies of more advanced technology should offset the cost of inflation
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