Space.com by Andrew Jones 5/26/2023
The Space Launch System's booster and engine are now projected to cost at least $13.1 billion over 25 years.An independent report looking into the development of NASA's new moon rocket has found significant cost overruns and delays that could harm the agency's plans to put astronauts back on the moon.
Development of the Space Launch System (SLS) began in November 2011. It had a successful test flight in November 2022, six years after its first targeting a debut launch in late 2016. The SLS megarocket is intended to return humans to the moon as part of NASA's Artemis program, but increases in costs related to contracts awarded to Aerojet Rocketdyne and Northrop Grumman for SLS's propulsion systems could threaten that objective.
That's according to a 50-page report by NASA Inspector General Paul Martin published by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) on May 25. Altogether, the four contracts for the rocket's booster and engine were initially projected to cost $7 billion over a span of 14 years, but are now projected to cost at least $13.1 billion over nearly 25 years.
More:
https://www.space.com/nasa-sls-megarocket-cost-delays-report
