From the First Satellite to Human Space Flights: the Space Project in the System of the Khrushchev Economy (Second Half of the 1950s – First Half of the 1960s)

Abstract

The development of the space industry became one of the priority areas of Soviet science and engineering in the second half of the 20th century. At the same time, the question of the cost of the Soviet space program remains open. The lack of direct data led to various kinds of speculation. The article analyzes the approximate cost of the Soviet space project in the first decade of its existence based on the declassified documents from the former archive of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU. The article shows from which budget items the Soviet space program was financed. The author demonstrates that the financing of the Soviet space program was organized not as an annual budget expenditure, but as expenses for the implementation of individual programs. Every year, the budget of the USSR was adjusted depending on the volume of work performed. In addition to direct financing, the necessary material and technical resources were allocated for the space projects. An approximate calculation shows that the USSR spent about 20.19 billion rubles in old prices in 1955–1960 and 98.8 million rubles in new prices in 1961–1964. In total, during in the first space decade, the USSR spent about 2 billion rubles in new prices and almost 20 billion rubles in old ones. Comparing with other items of expenditure during the same years, the author shows that the total expenditure on Soviet space program did not exceed 0.30%.