Apollo was ridiculously expensive. it was a proof of concept, but not sustainable for long term exploration

How expensive in comparison to the nuclear submarines or nuclear carriers?

ghc 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The Apollo program cost about as much as 22 Gerald Ford class nuclear carriers.

Amortized over the whole program, each launch cost the same as building 2 Gerald Ford class nuclear carriers, or $26 billion USD.

JumpCrisscross 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> How expensive in comparison to the nuclear submarines or nuclear carriers?

SLS already costs about as much as a nuclear submarine. Per launch.

XorNot 11 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

At its peak the Apollo program was about 6% of US GDP.

	▲	azernik 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		About 4% of the federal budget and 6% of discretionary spending at its peak, not of GDP. Still a very high number, but nowhere near the military-budget-levels you're talking about.