The VentureStar was explicitly designed for low refurbishmemt demands given the failures of the Space Shuttle. The latter was developed by NASA using contractor

The VentureStar was explicitly designed for low refurbishmemt demands given the failures of the Space Shuttle. The latter was developed by NASA using contractors, which pretty much always results in extremely high costs, e.g. recently with the cancelled NASA space suits or SLS. Even with Hydrogen, I think the full reusability of the VentureStar could have outweighed its high fuel cost, compared to other rockets at the time. They estimated 20 tons to LEO, which would have been more than e.g. Atlas, which wasn't even designed to fly humans, and would have required a capsule that reduces effective payload.