How much did NASA's Project Mercury cost?
Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, run by NASA from its announcement in December 1958 until Gordon Cooper's last orbital flight in May 1963, and flew six crewed missions between May 1961 and May 1963. NASA's history of the program, This New Ocean, puts its total cost at USD 384,131,000, of which 37 percent went to the spacecraft, 33 percent to the tracking network and 24 percent to launch vehicles, while Wikipedia and the San Diego Air and Space Museum give USD 277 million in contemporary dollars.
Reported project cost
$384.131 million
Cost basis: 1963
NASAPublic domain
Cost evidence
Basis of the published figure
Reported project cost1963
Project record