Moon plan comes at steep price: $64 billion

NASA figure covers only through first manned mission
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
By SHELBY G. SPIRES
Times Aerospace Writer shelbys@htimes.com

The estimate is in on NASA flying back to the moon - $64 billion.

Now, the Washington bickering over the true price can begin.

The Congressional Budget Office released a report Monday that outlines the NASA estimate to put astronauts back on the moon. The report marks the first time any government agency has given out detailed information on the actual cost of returning to the moon since President Bush announced his space exploration goals in January.

The $64 billion estimate, according to the report, covers only through the first manned mission - slated sometime after 2015.

The bulk of the money is to be spent after 2010 - the date NASA plans to retire the space shuttle - and would pay for a Crew Exploration Vehicle, a lunar lander and a heavy-lift launch vehicle. Marshall Space Flight Center would be heavily involved in a new exploration vehicle and a rocket to launch it, NASA officials have said.

Until 2010, NASA will invest $6.4 billion in developing an exploration vehicle for transportation to and from the International Space Station, lunar bases and possibly Mars.

The figures cover costs over the next 15 years according to the report, "A Budgetary Analysis of NASA's New Vision for Space Exploration."

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From 1969-1972, NASA launched 11 Apollo missions - nine to the moon with 12 men walking on its surface - at a cost of about $25 billion in 1972 dollars. That figure, adjusted for inflation, comes out to $109 billion in present-day costs, based on Bureau of Labor Standards calculations.