Editing Space Shuttle program (section)

==Budget==
[[File:Atlantis taking off on STS-27.jpg|thumb|Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' takes flight on the STS-27 mission on December 2, 1988. The Shuttle took about 8.5 minutes to accelerate to a speed of over 27,000 km/h (17000 mph) and achieve orbit.]]
[[File:950318 STS67 Endeavour landing.jpg|thumb|right|A drag chute is deployed by ''[[Space Shuttle Endeavour|Endeavour]]'' as it completes a mission of almost 17 days in space on Runway 22 at [[Edwards Air Force Base]] in southern California. Landing occurred at 1:46&nbsp;pm (EST), March 18, 1995.]]

Early during development of the Space Shuttle, NASA had estimated that the program would cost $7.45&nbsp;billion ($43&nbsp;billion in 2011 dollars, adjusting for inflation) in development/non-recurring costs, and $9.3M ($54M in 2011 dollars) per flight.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists|date=February 1973|page=39}}</ref> Early estimates for the cost to deliver payload to low-Earth orbit were as low as $118 per pound ($260/kg) of payload ($635/lb or $1,400/kg in 2011 dollars), based on marginal or incremental launch costs, and assuming a 65,000 pound (30&nbsp;000&nbsp;kg) payload capacity and 50 launches per year.<ref>NASA (2003) [http://caib.nasa.gov/events/public_hearings/20030423/transcript_am.html Columbia Accident Investigation Board Public Hearing Transcript] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060812151208/http://caib.nasa.gov/events/public_hearings/20030423/transcript_am.html |date=August 12, 2006 }}</ref><ref name="costbenefit">{{cite web|url=http://archive.gao.gov/f0302/096542.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://archive.gao.gov/f0302/096542.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live|title=Report to the Congress: Cost-Benefit Analylsis Used in Support of the Space Shuttle Program|access-date=November 25, 2008|publisher=United States General Accounting Office|year=1972|author=Comptroller General}}</ref> A more realistic projection of 12 flights per year for the 15-year service life combined with the initial development costs would have resulted in a total cost projection for the program of roughly $54&nbsp;billion (in 2011 dollars).

The total cost of the actual 30-year service life of the Shuttle program through 2011, adjusted for inflation, was $196&nbsp;billion.<ref name="Space shuttle program costs">{{cite news|last=Borenstein|first=Seth|title=Space shuttle's legacy: Soaring in orbit and costs|url=https://phys.org/news/2011-07-space-shuttle-legacy-soaring-orbit.html|access-date=September 30, 2021|newspaper=Phys.org|date=July 5, 2011|agency=Associated Press}}</ref> In 2010, the incremental cost per flight of the Space Shuttle was $409 million, or {{convert|14,186|$/kg|$/lb|abbr=off}} to [[low Earth orbit]] (LEO). In contrast, the comparable [[Proton (rocket)|Proton]] launch vehicle cost was $141 million, or  {{convert|6721|$/kg|$/lb|abbr=off}} to LEO and the [[ Soyuz 2.1]] was $55 million, or {{convert|6665|$/kg|$/lb|abbr=off}}, despite these launch vehicles not being reusable.<ref name="Launch_Cost_Analy">{{cite journal |last1=Xu|last2=Hollingsworth|last3=Smith|first1=Qin|first2=Peter|first3=Katharine |title=Launch Cost Analysis and Optimization Based on Analysis of Space System Characteristics |journal=Transactions of the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences |date=July 2019 |volume=62 |issue=4 |pages=177–178 |doi=10.2322/tjsass.62.175 |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/tjsass/62/4/62_T-17-57/_pdf/-char/ja |access-date=January 13, 2024|doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[NASA Budget|NASA's budget]] for 2005 allocated 30%, or $5&nbsp;billion, to space shuttle operations;<ref name="nasa_2005_budget">{{cite news | url = http://www.space.com/news/shuttle_cost_050211.html | title = Total Tally of Shuttle Fleet Costs Exceed Initial Estimates | publisher=[[Space.com]] | first = Leonard |  last = David | date = February 11, 2005 | access-date =August 6, 2006}}</ref> this was decreased in 2006 to a request of $4.3&nbsp;billion.<ref name="nasa_2006_budget">{{cite news | url = http://www.space.com/news/nasa_budget_050207.html | title = NASA 2006 Budget Presented: Hubble, Nuclear Initiative Suffer | last = Berger | first = Brian | date = February 7, 2006 | publisher=[[Space.com]] | access-date =August 6, 2006}}</ref> Non-launch costs account for a significant part of the program budget: for example, during fiscal years 2004 to 2006, NASA spent around $13 billion on the Space Shuttle program,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/news/budget/index.html|title=NASA Budget Information|date=January 27, 2015}}</ref> even though the fleet was grounded in the aftermath of the ''Columbia'' disaster and there were a total of three launches during this period of time. In fiscal year 2009, NASA budget allocated $2.98&nbsp;billion for 5 launches to the program, including $490&nbsp;million for "program integration", $1.03&nbsp;billion for "flight and ground operations", and $1.46&nbsp;billion for "flight hardware" (which includes maintenance of orbiters, engines, and the external tank between flights.)

Per-launch costs can be measured by dividing the total cost over the life of the program (including buildings, facilities, training, salaries, etc.) by the number of launches. With 135 missions, and the total cost of US$192&nbsp;billion (in 2010 dollars), this gives approximately $1.5&nbsp;billion per launch over the life of the Shuttle program.<ref name="pielke">{{cite journal | title=Shuttle programme lifetime cost | date=April 7, 2011 | last=Pielke | first=Roger Jr. | author2=Radford Byerly | bibcode=2011Natur.472...38P | journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] | volume=472 | issue=7341 | doi=10.1038/472038d | pages=38 | pmid=21475182| doi-access=free }}</ref> A 2017 study found that carrying one kilogram of cargo to the ISS on the Shuttle cost $272,000 in 2017 dollars, twice the cost of Cygnus and three times that of Dragon.<ref name="foust20171120">{{Cite web |url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3372/1 |title=Review: The Space Shuttle Program: Technologies and Accomplishments |last=Foust |first=Jeff |date=November 20, 2017 |website=The Space Review}}</ref>

NASA used a [[management philosophy]] known as success-oriented management during the Space Shuttle program which was described by historian Alex Roland in the aftermath of the ''Columbia'' disaster as "hoping for the best".<ref name="roland">{{cite web |title=Roland Statement |url=https://history.nasa.gov/columbia/Troxell/Columbia%20Web%20Site/Documents/Congress/Senate/FEBRUA~1/roland_statement.html |publisher=NASA |access-date=June 18, 2018}}</ref>  Success-oriented management has since been studied by several analysts in the area.<ref name="som1">{{cite book |last1=Weinrich |first1=Heinz |title=Management: A Global, Innovative, and Entrepreneurial Perspective |date=2013 |page=126}}</ref><ref name="som2">{{cite book |last1=Klikauer |first1=Thomas |title=Management Education: Fragments of an Emancipatory Theory |date=2016 |page=220}}</ref><ref name="som3">{{cite book |last1=Keuper |first1=Franz |title=Finance Bundling and Finance Transformation: Shared Services Next Level |date=2013 |page=i}}</ref>