Direct grey background and indirect white annual costs for Apollo as reconstructed by the author. Source data. The small discrepancy is due to uncertainties in the reported costs of Saturn launch vehicles in the early s. Since no accounting effort is wholly objective, I attempted to note every subjective decision I made in what to count, when, and where via per-cell comments in the Excel spreadsheet linked above. Now that we have annual spending data for Apollo, we are in a better position to provide accurate adjustments for inflation, as inflation rates changed substantially year-to-year throughout the s.
I use two methods to adjust for inflation, both of which answer a slightly different question:. Table 2. Detailed numbers available in the source data.
Without these facilities and their attendant staff, Apollo obviously would not have happened. However, I argue that this undercounts the total US investment in Apollo, as there were other efforts pursued in service of the lunar goal throughout the s.
In particular, Gemini refined operations and rendezvous in low Earth orbit in service of Apollo. The robotic lunar programs in the s also mapped the lunar surface and provided crucial ground truth in advance of astronauts.
Both the Orion crew capsule and the Space Launch System programs soldiered on despite the destination changes of asteroids, Mars, and the Moon. With this new Apollo costing data, we can now better evaluate levels of spending between comparable programs in Apollo and today. Well, the results speak for themselves:. Nine months later, following the Apollo 13 disaster, backing for the missions wanes again. By this time, however, space budgets have already been slashed and further lunar missions cancelled.
If the polling is to be believed, most Americans would rather have seen the money spent elsewhere. The spacesuits designed for walking on the Moon had to be tough, strong and supportive. Each custom-made suit was made up of multiple layers of plastic fibres, rubber and metal wires, all covered in Teflon-coated cloth, hand-stitched by a team of seamstresses.
The articulated spacesuits were made by a bra company Credit: Nasa. The Apollo suit had a separate backpack containing life support systems — effectively turning it into a self-contained spacecraft. During a spacewalk in March , Schweikart became the first person to test the new outfit, stepping outside his Apollo spacecraft in orbit around the Earth.
For the later Apollo missions the spacesuit was upgraded again to improve flexibility, allowing the astronauts to sit down in the lunar rover. Before Apollo 11 launched to the Moon, President Richard Nixon prepared two speeches — one for success and another in case the astronauts were stranded.
No-one had ever built a vehicle designed to land two people safely on another world and — crucially — get them home again. This chart shows that Project Apollo had the money it needed when it needed it, which helped ensure the success of the endeavor. Few NASA programs since have enjoyed that luxury, and as a consequence, failed to adhere to their original schedules. Spending on Apollo and related programs, broken out by major program, per fiscal year. The final Saturn V rocket launched Skylab in Direct costs for the Saturn family of launch vehicles and related engine development, per year.
Nearly all cost data are from public NASA budget submissions covering the fiscal years FYs - , which list obligations contracted spending amounts for the fiscal year 2 years previous. For example, the FY budget justification lists obligated program amounts in FY The hefty packaging included a stainless steel outer case, Thermoflex insulation and an aluminum layer, plus more thermal insulation foil — all on top of the inner case holding the flag.
The figure came with a spacesuit. A astronaut G. Over its 13 years, the program achieved legendary feats, including the lunar landing and the development of new rockets, spacecraft and ground systems technologies. Surprisingly, the highest year for Apollo spending was , three years before the first mission to the moon.
When the money stopped flowing in , NASA's budget plan said simply that "the planned objectives of the Apollo program have been accomplished. The worsening supply chain crisis are making stolen shipments an increasingly common problem that's affecting shoppers, already facing long delays and soaring prices.
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