In addition to price reductions for proffered launch service contracts, launch service providers are restructuring to meet increased competitive pressures within the industry. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the crew capsule Endeavour launches from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Thursday, March 2, 2023. In 118 space missions, NASA saw an average cost overrun of 90%. Although competition has brought prices down for cargo flights, human space transportation is still pricey. Here's how SpaceX, Blue Origin, and NASA's newest rockets compare. At the time, the engine was already in its third year of development by Blue Origin. COO Gwynne Shotwell said the cost savings "came even though SpaceX did extensive work to examine and refurbish the stage. This move further strengthens SpaceXs competitiveness in the commercial launch market. Most critically, the very definition of launch cost is subject to interpretation. [54] By early 2018, ULA had moved the first launch date for the Vulcan launch vehicle to no earlier than mid-2020,[62] and by 2019, were aiming to launch in 2021. Roughly one year later, SpaceX won another GPS 3 launch contract for $96.5 million. In 2018 SpaceX launched a record 21 times, exceeding the 18 launches in 2017; ULA had flown just 8 flights in 2018. As SpaceX prepares to launch Starship, which can theoretically transport 100 tons of payload to Lower Earth Orbit (LEO), they can look back on a 20-year history of industry-changing achievements. SpaceX's website previously listed the cost of a Falcon 9 launch at $62 million. Which can launch 100,000 kg /220,000 lb to LEO, and the aspirational launch cost is $2 million. . Many of the cited sources directly provide cost-per-kilogram estimates for launches to LEO. [30], By December 2014, Arianespace had selected a design and commenced development of the Ariane 6, its new entrant into the commercial launch market aiming for more competitively priced launch service offerings, with operational flights planned to begin in 2020. [74], As recently as 2013, nearly half of the world's commercial launch payloads were launched on Russian launch vehicles. Rockets comparison Length (or Height) NASA Saturn V - 363 feet (110.64 m) SpaceX Falcon Heavy - 229 feet (69.80 m) SpaceX BFR Notes 1 - 348 feet (106.07 m) NASA SLS (Space Launch System) - 365 feet (111.25 m) Blue Origin New Glenn Rocket - 326 feet (99.36 m) In FY21 dollars, newer launch vehicles tend to offer lower costs than older launch vehicles, with a gradual decline from 1957 to 2005, and a steeper decline between 2005 and 2020. Here's one: NASA saved at least $548 million, and perhaps more, thanks to just one contract with Elon Musk's SpaceX.