Question 15 pts

THE SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM

The U.S. Space Shuttle program, retired in 2004, is the most extensive operation of humans in space with a final cost over a 30-year timeline of $196 billion.

Calculate the annual cost per person of the Space Shuttle program. Recall that there are 310 million people.

$ per person per year

Round to the nearest cent. Enter only numbers- units are already given.

THE APOLLO PROGRAM

Accounting for inflation, if the Apollo program were to operate today, the cost would be $109 billion. Calculate the annual cost per person of the Apollo program.

Hint: 1961-1972. You can assume full years here.

$ per person per year

Round to the nearest cent.

THE MARS PROGRAM

Future programs for humans to explore Mars are estimated to cost $500 billion at minimum. Calculate the annual cost per person of a manned Mars program.

Let's assume that we can actually make this happen in 20 years.

$ per person per year

Yikes! That's almost a 300% increase over Apollo (inflated price) and a 400% increase over the Shuttle program. How could we get that to cost less?

COST EFFECTIVENESS

Which of the manned programs is most cost effective (least cost per taxpayer per year)?

Shuttle, Apollo, or Mars?