The most expensive thing ever made by humans, a tech marvel, cost a whopping $100 billion (2024)

When you think of the phrase ‘the most expensive thing ever made', the obvious answers which come to our mind are the Burj Khalifa, the Taj Mahal or perhaps, a jet fighter aircraft. However, you'd be surprised to know that none of these are the right answer. In fact, we are sure you would struggle to come up with the answer if you didn't already know what it is. The most expensive man-made thing in the world surprisingly, does not even exist on the Earth. It is none other than the International Space Station (ISS) and it took more than $100 billion to make. Read on to know more about one of the greatest tech marvels ever.

The ISS is the most expensive thing ever made by humans

This accolade was given by the Guinness World Records. Calling the International Space Station the ‘most expensive man-made object, it noted on its website that the cost of the structure was more than $100 billion. Some other sources also note that it actually took more than $150 billion. But why is the ISS so expensive and what makes it a tech marvel? The story is definitely an interesting one.

The International Space Station

In the early 1980s, NASA decided to launch a modular space station called Freedom. It was supposed to be the counterpart to the Soviet Salyut and Mir space stations. But as the plan was formed, it was realized that it would be beyond the scope of a single nation to build. As a result, the European Space Agency (ESA) as well as Russian space agency Roscosmos, JAXA from Japan, CSA of Canada also joined in.

On November 20, 1998, the ISS was launched into space. Originally, the purpose of the ISS was to be a laboratory, observatory, and factory while providing transportation, maintenance, and a low Earth orbit staging base for possible future missions to the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. While not all of the intended purposes have been fulfilled, ISS continues to serve its role in scientific research, space exploration and educational and cultural outreach.

The modularity of the ISS gives it a great flexibility. At any time, more modules can be added or removed from it to change its structure as per need. Some of the major components on the ISS include a life support system which contains the atmosphere control system, the water supply system, the food supply facilities, the sanitation and hygiene equipment, and fire detection and suppression equipment. They are located in the Zvezda service module. Apart from this, the research center, power control modules as well as communication systems are part of its core components.

Interestingly, the ISS continues to eat through even more money and therefore, becomes more expensive by the year as millions of dollars are spent on maintenance and repairs of this structure up there floating around in the sky.