> Note that SpaceX is still being propped up by NASA COTS, so it’s far too early to call it a commercial success. I'm sick of anti-Elon hysteria, and I while I

> Note that SpaceX is still being propped up by NASA COTS, so it’s far too early to call it a commercial success. I'm sick of anti-Elon hysteria, and I while I respect differences of opinion, I downvote FUD that's based on misinformation. SpaceX commercially bid for, and won, a launch services contract, which they are delivering at a considerably lower cost than the competition. Being paid for a commercial service is not the same as being subsidized -- And in any case, NASA is not their major source of revenue. But if your question is sincere: the cost of the fuselage (and engines, and communications and control systems, and the considerable amount of tech that goes into rockets) are considerable. Scattered around various tweets, Elon has indicated that the breakdown of costs for a (pre-Block 5) Falcon 9 are as follows: - Payload fairing: $6M - 2nd stage: $12M - 1st stage: $24M - Everything else -- propellant, operations, permits, etc.: $6M So recovery of the 1st stage would save about 50% of the launch costs, if such a recovery were itself cost-free. Obviously it does require some extra hardware, propellant, and operational complexity -- but as long adds less than $24M per launch, it's a net positive. I've seen no suggestion that it adds more than a few million per launch.