SpaceX founder Elon Musk has been pretty open about the numbers. Building a single Starship—the full stack, including the Super Heavy booster—costs roughly $90 million right now. That’s about the same as a top-tier private jet, like a Gulfstream G700, but way cooler because it can go to Mars. Still, ninety million dollars for a “prototype” sounds insane until you realize it’s actually a bargain in rocket terms. NASA’s old Space Shuttle program cost about $1.5 billion per launch, adjusted for inflation. So, a Starship is like buying a used Honda Civic compared to a Ferrari—you’re just getting more passengers to space for way less.
But wait—that’s just the hardware
That $90 million price tag covers the steel, engines, and thrusters. It doesn’t include the fuel, which is mostly liquid methane and oxygen. A full tank of Starship fuel runs about $900,000. To put that in perspective, filling up your minivan once a week for 10 years costs less than that single rocket fuel load. And Starship burns through that tank in under 10 minutes. It’s like you buying a cup of gas station coffee every morning versus me buying a whole coffee farm.
