There are some dates in history that every space science enthusiast will never forget in his/her lifetime. May it be the Apollo 11 launch on 16 July 1967 or the Curiosity rover launch on 26 November 2011. Also, there are some dates in history which make every space science fan emotional, whether it be the End of Apollo space program on December 1972 or the end of space shuttle program on 31st August 2011.
But have you ever noticed that with advancing technologies and making of more and more super computers, the space program which involved the humans to go into space and other planets were slowly degrading? During the
late 60's we were able to go to the moon with such primitive technology but today we have so many powerful and advanced rockets that can reach moon in less than 2 days but still there are nominal chances that we will get to see any new human mission in the upcoming years. So why all human space programs were cancelled? The main and logical answer behind this question is
budget limitations. In simple words, the US government and NASA didn't have enough money to launch a new human space exploration program. So where did all the money go ?
Talking about the money, let's be very clear, human space exploration program and space shuttle program are way too much expensive and they are a one-time investment. For example let's take Saturn V launch vehicle which was used to send human to the Moon surface.
It's a fact that the Saturn V is
one of most powerful and
the heaviest machine ever built by humans. The weight of Saturn V launcher is about
29,70,000 kg with an average thrust of
30,93,016.67 lbf and obviously if it is
one of the most powerful then it is also one of the most costly rockets ever built. Its project cost was approx.
$6.42 billion in
1964-1973 and the cost of per Saturn V launch was approximately
$185 million in
1969-1971. So, just imagine the numbers and always remember these are the cost of only one launch. After every launch the launch vehicle gets destroyed and all the money spent by the space agency or the govt. is also gone, whether the mission is completed or not, like the
Apollo 1 accident on
1967,STS-51-L space shuttle challenger accident on
1986, STS-107 space shuttle Colombia accident on
2003 and many more. So, due to the skyrocketing prices of the launch vehicles the US govt. decided to bring the human space exploration program on halt.
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