The canonical megaprojects had relatively modest budgets

Written 2022-02-01

The spending on the Manhattan and Apollo projects was relatively small, compared to modern spending for large tech companies:

Megaprojects

Manhattan Project

Total cost: $23B spent over seven years (in 2020 dollars, originally $2B)

1939-1946

130,000 people

More on the Manhattan Project

Apollo Project

Total cost: $158B spent over 11 years (in 2020 dollars, originally $25.4B)

1961-1972 At its peak, the Apollo program employed 400,000 people and required the support of over 20,000 industrial firms and universities.

More on the Apollo Project

Tech Companies

Alphabet

$141.3B annual operating expenses (2020)

150,028 employees

Amazon

$71.34B annual operating expenses (2020)