The Cost of Landing on the Moon: Weighing the Policy and Economic Outlays and Benefits of Manned Spaceflight Missions
- Paper number
IAC-09.E3.4.12
- Author
Dr. Gérardine Meishan Goh, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Germany
- Coauthor
Mr. Daniel Escolar Blasco, AOES Netherlands B.V. / ESA-ESTEC, The Netherlands
- Year
2009
- Abstract
Exemplifying the pinnacle of technological advancement, manned spaceflight continues to be a source of national prestige and fascination today. To date, only a handful of select nations have successfully launched and safely returned their nationals to and from outer space. Only one has successful landed on the Moon. Yet lunar and space-faring ambitions abound amongst various nations – China and India are only two of many nations aiming high and working hard to develop their manned spaceflight programmes. Privately-funded manned spaceflight and lunar missions are also actively being pursued. This paper comparatively discusses the economic and policy costs of manned spaceflight missions. From the successful flight of Yuri Gagarin, through the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programmes, to the future plans of China, Europe, India, Japan, Russia and the USA, this paper calculates and juxtaposes the policy and economic benefits and costs of manned spaceflight missions. It concludes with a modest look at the future of manned spaceflight and its associated outlays and paybacks.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)