How much does it cost to build a space shuttle

The space shuttle was the vehicle used by NASA to send astronauts into orbit and beyond. The program started in 1972 and cost $2.2 billion dollars just to get the first space shuttle ready for launch. It also cost between $450 million and $800 million each year to operate. This created a total cost of building a space shuttle that reached nearly $200 billion by the time the final shuttle landed in 2011.

How much does it cost to build a space shuttle

The space shuttle program, which began in the 1970s with the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and ended in 2011 with the final launch of Atlantis, cost NASA an estimated $209 billion over its lifetime.

SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 rocket costs about $62 million per launch, according to its website.

In contrast, a NASA space shuttle launch cost about $450 million. However, this number is misleading because it includes all costs — including those for research, development and construction — from the time of conception through both flights and landings.

NASA’s Space Shuttle program is an example of the cost of space exploration.

The Space Shuttle program was a series of American manned spaceflight missions that operated from 1981 to 2011. The program comprised 135 missions, during which five Space Shuttles were launched from 1981 to 2003, creating a total combined duration of 441 years in space.

The US government spent a total of $209 billion on the program over its lifetime, including development, operations and disposal costs. The crew of STS-51L died when Challenger exploded in 1986. The STS-107 Columbia mission disintegrated during reentry on February 1, 2003.

SpaceX

SpaceX is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. Founded in 2002 by former PayPal entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars, SpaceX has since developed the Falcon launch vehicle family and the Dragon spacecraft family, which both currently deliver payloads into Earth orbit. In March 2016, SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of an orbital rocket onto a drone ship following its launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Florida’s east coast—a historic first in the history of rocketry.[4][5][6]

The Space Shuttle is a spacecraft system that has served as the U.S. national space transportation system since the Space Shuttle Columbia’s maiden flight on April 12, 1981. The first orbiter, named Enterprise, was used for atmospheric testing and was not equipped for orbital spaceflight. Five functional shuttle systems were built, of which three were in operation at any given time from 1981 to 2011. Operational missions launched numerous satellites, interplanetary probes, and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The HST was deployed by STS-31 in 1990 and serviced by five subsequent shuttle missions before retiring in 2009.

The Space Shuttle program ended on July 21, 2011 when Atlantis landed after STS-135 (the final mission of the program), bringing an end to US human access to space for more than two years.[1] Sixty-five launch flights occurred over 30 years (1981–2011), with two catastrophic failures leading to loss of mission.[2] The first loss of life during a mission came during the Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986.[3][4]

The total cost for research, development, launch and recovery for all shuttles from 1976 to 2011 was $209 billion.[5]

There are a lot of different factors that go into building a spacecraft. The type of rocket you use, how much fuel you need, how many people are going to ride in the ship, etc.

We’re going to focus on one specific aspect: the cost of materials for the spacecraft itself.

What is the cost of building a Space Shuttle?

The Space Shuttle program was born out of the desire for America to have its own reusable space vehicle. This program lasted from 1981 until 2011 when President Obama ended it due to budget cuts in his administration and NASA’s new direction towards deep space exploration with Orion and other projects like SLS and SpaceX’s Dragon 2 capsule.

The total cost of this program was $209 billion over 30 years, which averages out to $6 billion per year over that time period. That’s a lot of money!

The twin solid rocket boosters each carry 550 tons of propellant, which is consumed in less than two minutes. They are jettisoned shortly after burnout and fall into the ocean where they are recovered and reused. The external tank weighs about 1,300 tons empty, but carries only about 70 to 80 tons of propellant. It is not recovered and burns up with the shuttle in the atmosphere.

The space shuttle orbiter (orbiter weight = 78,000 lb.) provides crew accommodations for seven persons; up to six can be mission specialists from among the pilot, commander, and four mission specialists who are assigned to specific areas of research during a mission. The crew consists of a commander and pilot (who also serve as mission specialists), along with three other mission specialists who work in the payload bay area during launch and reentry.

NASA’s space shuttles have been retired since 2011, but researchers are still trying to figure out how much the program cost.

NASA has released some preliminary estimates, but it’s unclear whether those figures are complete or whether they include the full cost of operating the shuttles over their 30-year lifespan.

The agency budgeted $1 billion per year for its shuttle program in 1986 — about $2 billion in today’s dollars. That number increased over time as NASA added more missions, including servicing the Hubble Space Telescope and constructing the International Space Station (ISS).

The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable orbital spacecraft system operated by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as part of the Space Shuttle program. Operated from 1981 to 2011, the shuttle fleet completed 39 missions – two unmanned launches and 37 manned missions – before retiring with Atlantis landing at Cape Canaveral on July 21, 2011.

Space shuttles were used for both research and public relations purposes. The shuttle’s relatively low cost and many flights per vehicle led to it becoming one of the most frequently used vehicles in space travel history; the popularity of using shuttles for international access to space was also due to their reusability, which allowed multiple flights without having to construct new ships each time. The first test flight of a prototype shuttle (Enterprise) occurred on February 18, 1977; this led to its first orbital flight aboard Columbia on April 12, 1981.[1]

The final mission of the Space Shuttle program took place on July 8, 2011 with STS-135 flown by Atlantis.[2] It was also the final launch of a NASA Space Shuttle from American soil until STS-1 in 2017.[3]