I don't know if your chip fab comparison is correct. It would be more comparable if you included the cost of building the chip fab itself as well as the R&D co

I don't know if your chip fab comparison is correct. It would be more comparable if you included the cost of building the chip fab itself as well as the R&D cost of several of the key technologies in the fab. Also, the entire Apollo infrastructure was actually designed for many more launches than occurred, that's why some of that infrastructure is still in use to this day. It's been a few years since I read a biography of Von Braun but I remember him making design decisions for Apollo that anticipated many more launches and manned missions to Mars and Venus in the 1970s with a manned Mars base by the early 80s.