Good question, looking up the budget, they allocated about $3 billion in 2009 for the Shuttle program (17% of their budget). Mind boggling to think they spent $

Good question, looking up the budget, they allocated about $3 billion in 2009 for the Shuttle program (17% of their budget). Mind boggling to think they spent $200 billion on that program over its life. Scientific breakthrough doesn't function by sheer dollar command, but it's hard not to think about what could have been done with that money instead ($20 billion for a cheaper SpaceX style launch system, $180 billion redirected toward research, invention, X Prize awards, telescopes, satellites, rovers, etc).