“What The International Space Station (ISS) Cost To Build”

ISS Space Station

Prabhupada, June 28, 1976, New Vrindaban: The same story, that some frogs were there, and children was throwing stone. Then the frogs appealed, “Sir, why you are throwing stone upon us?” “No, we are playing.” “So what is play for you, it is death to us.” So these rascals are playing, and we have to pay heavy tax for that. This is going on. We are playing, making some scientific research, and who will pay for that? You. You work hard in the factory and pay tax. This is civilization. “You pay tax, and we spend it as we like.” Frivolity. This is going on. This is the government of Kali-yuga. What can you do?

Devotee: “In God We Trust.”

Prabhupada: “What is play to you is death to us.” And “Never mind. You die. We play.” They have already spent so much money, moon exploration. And that has stopped now, no benefit. They brought some sand and some rock, satisfied. Again the same thing with Mars. But we can say from our poor knowledge that as they have failed in the moon planet, they will fail also in the Mars. Take it down. Note now. Do you know this is all bluff? […]

International Space Station (ISS) – $150 billion (total cost to date)

Historical.whatitcosts.com: As in any government project, the ultimate cost is predicted to be far higher than the original expectations. And with so many different governments involved with varying currency values the true overall cost will probably never be certain.

In the United States, NASA reports only the costs relating to the mission, mission integration, and launch facility processing as expenses for the ICC. Despite the fact that the Space Shuttle was and will be used in the future almost exclusively for ICC missions (35 of 41 missions), NASA considers the Space Shuttle Program an independent project from the ISS. For this reason, it does not include the cost of the Space Shuttle Program in their ISS costs.

International Space Station Costs (NASA) Total: $54 to 59 billion

* 1994 – 2005 – $26 billion
* 2006 – 2007 – $4 billion
* 2008 – 2016 – $24 to 29 billion (projected)

Space Shuttle Program: $38 billion

Total estimated costs:

* U.S.: $100 billion
* Europe: $14 billion
* Japan: $10 billion
* Russia: Unknown
* Canada: $2 billion

The Future

Although the current research missions of the ISS will end around 2016 the lessons learned and the experiences gained will be extremely significant in furthering man’s quest for travel beyond Earth orbit. The problems to the human body from prolonged weightlessness, the damage to tissue cells from the bombardment of cosmic radiation particles, and psychological stresses of flights lasting many months or years, will have to be overcome before man reaches out for interplanetary travel. The ISS, however, is the first step toward reaching that goal.