The 10 Most Expensive Space Missions Of All Time

Space, or as many like to call it, the "final frontier," has captured our hearts and imaginations ever since we got out of the caves and started looking up. For most of human history, though, space was just too far away due to technological challenges and the sheer cost of developing a rocket capable of carrying humans into space and back. 

All this changed during the Cold War when the U.S. and the USSR were locked in a space race. The battle wasn't just about achieving something first, but also about proving that one ideology was better than the other. It was capitalism versus communism — but those looking to learn about what was out among the stars benefited from it.

While the United States is generally considered to have won the space race by putting a man on the Moon first, it wasn't a clean sweep. The USSR was the first to launch a satellite, Sputnik 1, and to put the first man, Yuri Gagarin, and the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, in space. These projects were directly funded by their respective governments, and they were expensive. Developing rockets, spacecraft, managing high-skilled engineers, and developing new launch sites cost billions, even in the 1960s. Here are the 10 most expensive space missions of all time.

When the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite, American scientists found a way to track it by analyzing the frequency of its radio signals. They then reverse-engineered this idea to make the satellites track objects on Earth, and that's where the concept of GPS was born to help the military. 

Meanwhile, the USSR was also working on a similar concept, following V. S. Shebashevich's proposal to apply radio-astronomy techniques for aeronavigation as early as 1957. The Soviets launched the Cicada project, which included four navigational satellites, in 1979. After successful tests, work on the GLONASS navigational system began. These satellites would be positioned much higher, and the first one was launched in 1982, with the full array of 24 satellites completed in 1995. However, soon after the collapse of the USSR, budget cuts left the GLONASS system in a very dire state. By 2002, only seven satellites were left in orbit, which wasn't even enough for national coverage. 

The Russian government soon launched the "Global Navigation System for 2002–2011" program, which provided much-needed funding for modernizing the system. By repairing older satellites and launching newer ones, full capacity was restored in 2011, providing national and international coverage. Plus, as the current GLONASS-M satellites retire, they'll be replaced by the newer K-series satellites. The total cost for the GLONASS system is not a single figure, as funding has been allocated in multi-year programs, with previous ones costing approximately $3.2 billion (2002–2011) and $5.1 billion (2012–2020).

The USSR deployed the first space station, Salyut 1, all the way back in 1971. After the tragedy that killed the first crew of the station on re-entry, the Soviets launched four other stations, each with a varying degree of success. Salyut 6 was the Soviet Union's second-generation space station, launched on September 29, 1977. 

The program was a radical step forward, as it was the first to include two docking ports, one at the front and another at the back, that enabled simultaneous refueling and resupply from space ships. The main goal for the Soviets was to study the effects of weightlessness for long durations, possibly 18 months, which was the time needed for a round-trip to Mars. However, there was a problem. The Soyuz shuttle's propellant system, which carried people to and from the station, lasted only a couple of months at a time, after which the shuttle had to return to Earth. 

So, to simulate the Mars journey for the crew, the Soviets would send new shuttles with visitors every couple of months, who would stay for a while and then return home with the next one. The permanent crew always had a ride back home if things went south. The Salyut 6 was also the first station to receive international cosmonauts, with the first being Czechoslovakia's Vladimir Remek in 1978. The cost to develop, launch, and maintain Salyut 6, specifically during its almost 5-year operational period, exceeded $9 billion in 1980-adjusted dollars.

The Hubble telescope ushered in a new era of scientific discoveries that have reshaped our understanding of the universe many times over. It's still in active duty today, but despite all the discoveries, it's over 35 years old and lacks the technology and sensors to see further back in time. This prompted NASA to work on a successor, and that gave birth to the James Webb telescope — larger and more advanced than the Hubble. 

Discussions about the program actually began in the mid-1990s, with the STScI committee recommending building a telescope capable of observing infrared light. Construction officially began in 2004, and after several delays, the telescope was launched on December 25, 2021. To study infrared radiation, which is essentially heat, the telescope had to be positioned much farther away than Hubble, shielded from the Sun's radiation by staying in Earth's shadow. It remains at the Lagrange L2 point, about 1 million miles away from our planet.

NASA estimated the lifetime cost of building the telescope came to around $8.8 billion. The agency also plans to spend over $867 million on support for the next 5 years. In its few short years of operation, the James Webb telescope has already helped us discover many Earth-like exoplanets, get the clearest photo of Uranus, and find supermassive black holes. Recently, the telescope may have also found the first stars to form after the Big Bang.

Europe has also expanded into space. The Galileo navigational system was built by the European Space Agency (ESA) and is the only one under civilian control, unlike the U.S.'s GPS or Russia's GLONASS. Despite most EU member countries being close allies of the U.S., the union commissioned the development of the system to create an independent satellite navigation network that would serve the needs of people and governments of Europe without being used for any armed action. 

Unfortunately, the program didn't go as planned. The satellites faced multiple failures, and two were even deployed in the wrong orbit due to an error with the Soyuz launcher. All this delayed the service, which was meant to go live in 2008, and ballooned project costs from the initial $3.1 billion to over $10 billion as of 2020.

Today, the system includes a cluster of 28 satellites orbiting the planet in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at an altitude of 23,222 kilometers, with the two wrongly orbiting satellites functioning for other uses. Galileo is free to use for anyone and is actually more accurate than GPS, capable of pinpointing location to within 1 meter. Beyond that, the service also provides a more accurate option for paying organizations such as governments and health services. 

Today, going on a trip to a new city or state is pretty simple. You pack your things, select a route on the GPS, and drive to your destination. However, the technology behind it all is super complex. Your phone or car essentially communicates with a satellite in orbit, which determines your position and gives the best possible route. 

As with many things in our lives today, GPS is also a child of the space race. The idea first came to be when scientists at Johns Hopkins University observed that the frequency of Sputnik's radio signals helped them track the satellite in orbit. The U.S. government then expanded on the plan, using a satellite to track a ground-based receiver, and developed the first positioning system to help its armed forces.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan made the Navstar Global Positioning System public for all commercial airlines after a Korean jet, which accidentally veered into Soviet airspace, was shot down. By 1989, the first commercial GPS came to the market. However, due to concerns that foreign governments might use the system against the U.S., the Defense Department made the system less accurate for the general public. Today, the entire system relies on 31 satellites in orbit, and the American government has spent over $12 billion on initial installations. Though, according to a report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the GPS has also generated over $1.7 trillion in revenue.

The Hubble Space Telescope is probably one of the most well-known devices in space. Observing the vast expanses of the universe from Earth is a big headache, thanks to the myriad of variables like weather, wind speeds, and pollution that can drastically alter a telescope's ability. These are the very reasons scientists put telescopes in orbit, and the most famous of them all is the Hubble telescope. It launched in April 1990 and is still out and functioning today, predicted to remain so until 2030 or 2040. The program cost NASA roughly $16 billion, according to the 2021 figures, though repair and servicing bills are not included.

The telescope has been immensely useful for astronomers. While a lot of astronomers were skeptical about the need for such an expensive space program, the telescope has vastly expanded our understanding of space to the point that, without it, we wouldn't even have known the age of the universe (about 13.8 billion years). Hubble also determined the expansion rate of the universe and discovered that supermassive black holes exist at the center of every galaxy. Beyond that, Hubble has captured mesmerizing images of nebulae and galaxies billions of light-years away, which can still be found on posters and desktop wallpapers in homes and offices.

The last time humans set foot on the lunar surface was over 50 years ago on December 11, 1972, with the Apollo 17 mission. Since then, we've only sent probes to both the Moon and Mars. However, all this is about to change. NASA has been developing the all-new Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft, with the sole purpose of getting humans back to the Moon and, potentially, even to Mars. Development on the Orion spacecraft began in 2004, under the Constellation program. However, after its cancellation in 2010 and the subsequent announcement of SLS, the spacecraft was redesigned.

The Space Launch System is the rocket part that helps astronauts lift off the Earth's surface by generating over 8.8 million pounds of thrust, even more than the Saturn V rocket used before. The Orion is a modular spacecraft that can carry 600 kilograms (which may be later expanded) of crew and cargo for up to 21 days without refueling. 

In November 2022, the Artemis I mission using the SLS and Orion was a success, after an uncrewed flight went around the Moon and back to Earth. The subsequent Artemis II mission is planned to take humans near the lunar surface in April 2026. However, the real goal is Artemis III, which would mark the return of humans to the lunar surface. There are also plans to take humans to Mars in the 2030s, but that mission still has a long way to go. In total, NASA has spent over $49.9 billion on both programs between 2006 and 2022.

The International Space Station is an iconic example of the allure of space. After the end of the Cold War, when global tensions were low, the United States and Russia combined their space station programs, and the idea of an International Space Station was born, with additional contributions from the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan's JAXA. To this day, even in a much more tense world, it stands as one of the biggest symbols of international cooperation. The station has been home to a crew since November 2000 and serves as the hub for all microgravity experiments in physics and biology. In addition, researchers have studied the protein clusters that cause Alzheimer's disease and endothelial cell growth, which is a big focus of cancer research.

The science expands beyond that, with the space station working as a home to plants we've grown in space. It also serves as a system for monitoring Earth's weather, detecting natural disasters, and supporting response missions. The ISS costs NASA roughly $3 billion per year to maintain. According to an ESA report, all members of the committee spent around $100 billion on building the space station. These maintenance figures will continue to add up until the ISS eventually retires in 2030.

The Space Shuttle Program, which began in the early 1970s, is what we owe most of our space achievements to. It consisted of a partially reusable space shuttle that could take astronauts and cargo to space and back. The program had its first flight in 1981 and throughout its lifetime flew 135 missions, carrying astronauts from 16 different countries. Crucially, the space shuttle was behind some of the most influential missions, including the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, and carried big components of the International Space Station as well. 

With the Space Shuttle Program, it looked like humanity would soon let regular people visit space, but it soon fell apart. In 1986, the Challenger mission had a catastrophic launch that killed all crew members of the shuttle, including a school teacher, Christa McAuliffe. In 2003, another accident took place with the Columbia Space Shuttle, which broke down during re-entry. 

While the program was conceived to make space accessible for paying customers, the cost of sending a satellite into space was anything but cheap. The average price was around $450 million, and the problem was worsened by the painstakingly slow turnaround times. It took roughly 54 days to prepare the shuttle. NASA also had to expand the time to over 88 days after the Challenger tragedy. All these reasons led to the program's shutdown in 2011. The initial development costs came to around $49 billion in 2020 dollars. However, if we factor in the launches, the cost skyrockets to $209 billion, making it the second-most-expensive space mission.

During the height of the Cold War, when both the U.S. and USSR were locked in a race to prove whose ideology was better, the most important mission was putting a man on the Moon. This achievement was essentially going to signify who won the space race. On July 20, 1969, two American astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, became the first humans to set foot on the lunar surface. "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," were the words from Neil Armstrong that many of us remember to this day. 

All this was possible thanks to the Apollo program, which redefined legacy and advanced our understanding of the lunar surface. The program concluded with 11 flights in 1972, four of which carried cargo, while the remaining seven transported the crew. Over its lifetime, 12 astronauts landed on the Moon, with some even driving lunar buggies. Experiments from the Apollo program are still running on the Moon today.

Unfortunately, the Apollo program wasn't perfect and had its fair share of tragedies. During a test flight on January 27, 1967, three brilliant astronauts, Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee, tragically lost their lives due to a fire in the command module, which spread rapidly due to the 100% oxygen atmosphere. This resulted in NASA redesigning the whole module and its materials. Overall, the Apollo program cost $28 billion at the time (including Project Gemini and the robotic lunar program), which, adjusted for inflation, amounts to over $280 billion today.