End dawns for Europe's space cargo delivery role$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'E')urope will close an important chapter in its space flight history Tuesday, launching the
fifth and final robot ship it had pledged for lifeline deliveries to the International Space Station.
The 20-tonne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) dubbed Georges Lemaitre, the size of a double-decker bus, is set to blast off from South America with fuel, water, oxygen, food, clean clothes and
50 kilogrammes (110 pounds) of coffee for six Earth-orbiting astronauts.
...
The craft will carry nearly
6.6 tonnes of supplies for the orbital outpost and its occupants, including 850 litres of drinking water—the most ever, and three tonnes of fuel.
...
50 kilogrammes of coffee to "rejuvenate" the crew
...
Since there is no washing machine in space, the robot craft will bring underwear, socks and clean clothes
...
All met their operational objectives, somewhat muting criticism of the programme's total 4.2 billion-euro (
$5.6 billion) cost.
So that's a $billion per launch of 6.6 tonnes each. $150,000 per kilogram. $7,500,000 for coffee. I presume that's instant coffee. When they've used that up they'll have to get used to