Topic summary
Project Apollo
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Apollo program.
Costs
Project Apollo was a massive undertaking, representing the largest research and development project in peacetime. At its peak, it employed over 400,000 employees and contractors around the country and accounted for more than half of NASA's total spending in the 1960s. After the first Moon landing, public and political interest waned, including that of President Nixon, who wanted to rein in federal spending. NASA's budget could not sustain Apollo missions which cost, on average, $445 million ($2.73 billion adjusted) each while simultaneously developing the Space Shuttle. The final fiscal year of Apollo funding was 1973.