Think of the moon trip like the world’s most expensive Uber ride. You’re not just paying for the gas. You’re paying for the rocket, the engineers, the ground control, and the snack packets that taste like astronaut ice cream.
NASA’s Artemis program, which plans to send people back to the moon soon, has a budget of nearly $93 billion through 2026. That’s per mission, not per passenger. To put that in perspective, you could buy every single cup of coffee from Starbucks for the rest of your life, and still have change for a fleet of used Corollas.
But What About a “Budget” Moon Trip?
You might have heard about SpaceX’s Starship. Elon Musk likes to talk about making it cheaper. He once said the cost could drop to maybe $10 million per seat. That sounds like a bargain compared to $100 million, right?
Well, $10 million is still roughly the price of a mansion in Beverly Hills. Or about 33,333 of those fancy avocado toasts you skipped to save money. So unless you’re a tech billionaire or you just sold a very successful app, it’s still out of reach for most of us.
How Expensive Is It to Send Payload To The Moon? (Cost Per Tonne) - YouTube
