🚀 go-pugleaf

In <n1351t@ofa123.fidonet.org> Wales.Larrison@ofa123.fidonet.org writes:

>    In comparison, Shuttle costs (depending on your source) about
>$350-500 M per launch. (As a check on this cost/flight range, the FY
>1992 NASA budget numbers for shuttle operating costs came to about $
>3.2 B, and there were a total of 8 flights flown in 1992, which
>gives about $ 400 M/flt, which is within the cost band I'm using).

Of course, in addition to "Shuttle operating costs," there are
ongoing Shuttle product-improvement/development costs.  Eight
flights per year is more than NASA's been able to manage most
years.  And you've conveniently ignored depreciation on the
orbiter and the $32 billion in Shuttle development costs (not
to mention interest on same).

That said, there are some launchers that cost more, per pound
of payload on orbit, than the Shuttle.  But they are very small
launchers that don't have many pounds of payload to spread
their cost across.