So how does that 4.2 billion break down by category and time? And what did the US govt get back in return. And how many billions did Space X spend during that same timeframe? Keep in mind, if you don't have Space X, all your eggs were in one basket, whose handle was formed by using Russian sourced boosters. Nothing like letting a foreign govt have the ability for you to get payloads into space. So there's value there. Lower coast to orbit, that's another value. Competition forcing ULA to actually act like a business in competition instead of a monopoly that has the govt over a barrel as a single source, that's value.
I have a feeling that like the Apollo program and NACA, the ancillary products will far exceed the cost the govt put into it. Not to mention the eventual economic benefits of low cost access to space, of which we haven't seen yet, since the really reusable boosters (like able to reuse 100 or more times with a week or less turnaround between launches) have not really entered service yet. Taking a launch from 60 million to less than 10 million each is pretty huge and opens up a lot of possibilities.
Of course, Bezo's Blue Origin is a factor, but not so much yet as they will be.
