Apollo 15 went unused, due to the explosion that damaged the Apollo 13 spacecraft. Apollo 14's CMP, Stu Roosa, was enthusiastic about geology, but the mission commander, Alan Shepard, less so. Scott, once assigned as Apollo 15 commander, was determined that his crew bring back the maximum amount of scientific data possible, and met with Silver in April 1970 to begin planning the geological training. The assignment of Schmitt as Apollo 15's backup LMP made him an insider, and allowed him to spark competition between the prime and backup crews. The cancellation of two Apollo missions in September 1970 transformed Apollo 15
Apollo program this to "more than 50 cents a week for every man, woman and child in the United States". Webb's estimate shocked many at the time (including the President) but ultimately proved accurate. In January 1969, NASA prepared an itemized estimate of the run-out cost of the Apollo program. The total came to $23.9 billion, itemized as follows: The final cost of Apollo was reported to Congress as $25.4 billion in 1973, It took up the majority of NASA's budget while it was being developed. For example, in 1966 it accounted for about 60 percent of NASA's total $5.2 billion budget.