[Invictus0]

LOL! More than a billion dollars to refill a rocket with fuel? You are bugging.

[sashahrzg]

That's not how a launch cost is calculated. The cost of the rocket's construction is included in every launch, hence the cost going down with subsequent launches. RND costs must also be included, as well as support system costs, staff costs, etc. Also, current starship designs require refurbishment between launches, as well as an expensive set of checks and tests on systems. 1 billion as the cost for the first fully test launch is not at all out of the ballpark.

[Isinlor]

SpaceX is contracted to deliver people to the Moon surface for 2.8 billion dollars total (development + actual mission).

To do it they need around 6 launches for refueling in orbit.

Therefore, the very upper limit on a single Starship launch is 0.5 billion (2.8/6).

And that's without development cost of Starship HLS.

Single SLS launch cost without Orion, including development, will be around 4 billion dollars.

20 billion overall for SLS development + 20 billion for Orion development.