How much did it cost to convert Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 6 for the Space Shuttle?
Space Launch Complex 6 (Slick Six) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California was built from 1966 for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory and rebuilt between January 1979 and July 1986 as a West Coast launch site for the Space Shuttle. The Challenger accident in January 1986 ended the plan before any shuttle flew; the Air Force put the site in caretaker status and mothballed it on 20 September 1989. Sources put the cost of the shuttle conversion at between USD 3.3 and more than 4 billion, later Delta IV rockets flew from the pad, and SpaceX has been cleared to redevelop it for Falcon rockets.
Reported project cost
$3.65 billion
Cost basis: 1986
U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Andrew SatranPublic domain
Cost evidence
Basis of the published figure
Reported project cost1986
Project record