General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The Bezos Sub-Orbital Flight Is Just an Uber Expensive E-Ticket Theme Park Ride. [View all]Johonny
(20,945 posts)The shuttle was so expensive because they were launching mostly dead weight into space needed to return it. The space shuttle is not a good example, it's reusability made it so expensive.
The major expense is the payload. The launch vehicle isn't nearly as valuable or expensive to produce. Launch vehicles cost millions, payloads cost billions. The thing on top of the rocket is the product. (For small satellites the launch vehicle is more a major expense, but these are big rockets they're making). For a launch vehicle reliability is more valuable than reuse. However, SPACEX is showing it can reuse and have high reliability. This will reduce costs, however, the payload is still vastly more valuable and they're still almost all single use.