How much did this footprint cost? Credit: NASA

The Planetary Society has released a new Apollo cost analysis, reporting that the effort would cost nearly $300 billion in today’s dollars. The analysis comes in advance of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

As explained in the analysis, the United States spent $264 billion on Project Apollo when adjusted to today’s dollars.

Annual budget

The new analysis by Casey Dreier, The Planetary Society’s Senior Space Policy Adviser, spotlights that the total cost of the lunar effort grows to $288 billion when Project Gemini and the related robotic programs are included.

The United States spent an average of $24 billion per year for Apollo between 1961 and 1972—larger than NASA’s entire current annual budget of $21.5 billion.

Apollo 17’s Harrison “Jack” Schmitt was the last man to set foot on the lunar surface, taking part in the 6th human landing on the Moon in December 1972.
Credit: NASA

 

 

Resource pages

In addition to the new cost analysis, The Planetary Society also released mission summary resource pages for each Apollo mission.

These mission pages collate high-quality information including per-mission costs, major event timelines, memorable photographs, and links to historical sources such as press kits, videos, and flight journals.

 

 

To access this informative analysis and related materials, go to:

http://www.planetary.org/press-room/releases/2019/apollo-cost-analysis.html

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