BudgetGuessr rankings

The most expensive space missions in our catalogue

The 25 most expensive of 71 built and under-construction space missions in the BudgetGuessr catalogue, ranked by documented cost in US dollars.

Ranking

  1. 1Spacelab was a versatile laboratory carried in the Space Shuttle's cargo bay for special research flights. Its various elements could be combined to accommodate the many types of scientific research that could best be performed in space. Spacelab consisted of an enclosed, pressurized laboratory module and open U-shaped pallets located at the rear of the laboratory module. The laboratory module contained utilities, computers, work benches, and instrument racks to conduct scientific experiments in

    Space Shuttle program

    United States · 2011 · Space mission$196 billion
  2. 2The station pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon jsc2021e064211_alt (Dec. 8, 2021) --- This mosaic depicts the International Space Station pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly around of the orbiting lab that took place following its undocking from the Harmony module’s space-facing port on Nov. 8, 2021.

    International Space Station, 2005 programme estimate

    United States · 2000 · Space mission$124.41 billionEstimate
  3. 3NASA’s Space Launch System rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft launches on the Artemis I flight test, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Artemis I mission is the first integrated flight test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and ground systems. SLS and Orion launched at 1:47 a.m. EST, from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kows

    NASA Artemis campaign, FY2012–2025

    United States · Space mission$93 billionUnder constructionEstimate
  4. 4Short description: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the moon Full description: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, stands on the surface of the moon near the leg of the lunar module, Eagle, during the Apollo 11 moonwalk. Astronaut Neil Armstrong, mission commander, took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. While Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the lunar module to explore the Sea of Tranquility, astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained in lunar orbit with the Comman

    Apollo program

    United States · 1972 · Space mission$25.4 billion
  5. 5Artist's rendering of the Space Launch System Block 1 sitting on Launch Pad 39A with the Orion spacecraft at sunrise.

    Space Launch System programme, FY2012–2025

    United States · 2022 · Space mission$23.8 billionUnder constructionEstimate
  6. 6Artist's impression of a GPS Block IIIA satellite in orbit

    Global Positioning System

    United States · 1995 · Space mission$14.09 billionEstimate
  7. 7A ATLAS V rocket carrying the Kuiper 3 mission successfully launches from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on September 25, 2025. Project Kuiper is Amazon's low Earth orbit satellite broadband network. Its mission is to provide fast, reliable internet to customers around the world, including those in unserved and underserved communities, using a constellation of more than 3,200 LEO satellites. (U.S. Space Force photo by Gwendolyn Kurzen)

    Amazon Leo

    United States · 2025 · Space mission$10 billionUnder construction
  8. 8NASA engineer Ernie Wright looks on as the first six flight ready James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror segments are prepped to begin final cryogenic testing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

    James Webb Space Telescope life-cycle estimate

    United States · 2021 · Space mission$9.7 billionEstimate
  9. 9Transparent background version of the Europa Clipper spacecraft rendering, per the official JPL website.

    Europa Clipper

    United States · 2024 · Space mission$5.2 billionUnder constructionEstimate
  10. 10iss067e066735 (May 20, 2022) --- Boeing's CST-100 Starliner crew ship approaches the International Space Station on the company's Orbital Flight Test-2 mission before automatically docking to the Harmony module's forward port. The orbiting lab was flying 268 miles above the south Pacific at the time of this photograph.

    Boeing Starliner development

    United States · Space mission$4.56 billionUnder construction
  11. 11Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

    Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

    United States · 2024 · Space mission$4.3 billionEstimate
  12. 12Delta IV MST rollback The mobile service tower rolls back from the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Medium+ (5,2) rocket on Space Launch Complex 6 here Tuesday, April 3, 2012. This is the Department of Defense?s first-ever launch of a Delta IV configured with a 5-meter payload fairing and two solid rocket motors.

    Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 6

    United States · 1986 · Space mission$3.65 billion
  13. 13An updated render of the Dragonfly spacecraft

    Dragonfly Titan mission

    United States · 2024 · Space mission$3.35 billionUnder construction
  14. 14The uncrewed SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft is the first Commercial Crew vehicle to visit the International Space Station. Here it is pictured with its nose cone open revealing its docking mechanism while approaching the station's Harmony module. The Crew Dragon would automatically dock moments later to the international docking adapter attached to the forward end of Harmony. (cropped and brightened from the original)

    SpaceX Crew Dragon development

    United States · 2014 · Space mission$2.6 billion
  15. 15A rendering of the exterior of the Giant Magellan Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.

    Giant Magellan Telescope

    Chile · 2024 · Space mission$2.54 billionUnder constructionEstimate
  16. 16This is an artist's concept of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft during its cruise phase between launch and final approach to Mars. The spacecraft includes a disc-shaped cruise stage (on the left) attached to the aeroshell. The spacecraft's rover (Curiosity) and descent stage are tucked inside the aeroshell.

    Mars Science Laboratory

    United States · 2020 · Space mission$2.48 billionEstimate
  17. 17Research Infrastructure European Spallation Source, Lund, Sweden - Aerial View

    European Spallation Source

    Sweden · Space mission$2.45 billionUnder construction
  18. 18Teams at Bechtel National, Inc. use a crane to lift Module 4 into place atop the mobile launcher 2 tower chair at its Kennedy Space Center park site on January 3, 2025. Module 4 is the first of seven modules that will be stacked vertically to make up the almost 400-foot launch tower that will be used beginning with the Artemis IV mission.

    NASA Mobile Launcher 2

    United States · Space mission$1.87 billionOn holdEstimate
  19. 19This drone photograph shows ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope in late 2025, during its construction.

    Extremely Large Telescope

    Chile · Space mission$1.57 billionUnder constructionEstimate
  20. 20Two of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 12-metre antennas gaze at the sky at the observatory’s Array Operations Site (AOS), high on the Chajnantor plateau at an altitude of 5000 metres in the Chilean Andes. Eight antennas have been installed at the AOS since November 2009. More antennas will be installed on the Chajnantor plateau during the next months and beyond, allowing astronomers to start producing early scientific results with the ALMA system around late 2011. After

    Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array

    Chile · 2013 · Space mission$1.4 billion
  21. 21Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) accumulator ring at Oak Ridge National Lab. The $1.4 billion facility was completed in 2006. It is the world's largest facility to study materials.

    Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge

    United States · 2006 · Space mission$1.4 billion
  22. 22In the Vertical Processing Facility (VPF), the spacecraft Galileo is prepared for mating with the Inertial Upper Stage booster. Galileo will be launched aboard the Orbiter Atlantis on Space Shuttle mission STS-34, October 12, 1989 and sent to the planet Jupiter, a journey which will take more than six years to complete.

    Galileo mission

    United States · 2003 · Space mission$1.39 billion
  23. 23This photograph of the Gemini 7 spacecraft was taken from Gemini 6 during rendezvous and station keeping maneuvers at an altitude of approximately 160 miles above the Earth. Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 launched on December 15, 1965 and December 4, 1965, respectively. Walter M. Schirra, Jr. and Thomas P. Stafford on Gemini 6 and Frank Borman and James A. Lovell on Gemini 7 practiced rendezvous and station keeping together for one day in orbit.

    Project Gemini

    United States · 1967 · Space mission$1.3 billion
  24. 24In this illustration showing NEO Surveyor, NASA's next-generation near-Earth object hunter, the spacecraft floats in an infrared starfield containing stars, star clusters, gas, and dust. More than 100 asteroids can be seen as red dots, with some of them visible in a track that shows how they were captured at different times as they marched across the sky. This starfield was observed by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, during its primary all-sky survey in March 2010 before it

    NEO Surveyor

    United States · 2022 · Space mission$1.2 billionUnder construction
  25. 25Artist concept of NISAR.

    NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar

    United States · 2025 · Space mission$1.16 billionEstimate

How this ranking works

This is a curated catalogue, not an exhaustive list of every megaproject. Projects are ordered by their recorded US-dollar equivalent; each detail page shows the source amount and any currency conversion. Figures are not adjusted for inflation, and construction bills, estimates, and programme costs can have different scopes. Unbuilt proposals and cancelled projects are excluded.

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