Because that's what people with money want to invest in, because there is a potential market for space travel/tourism/mining, and because money isn't always all

Because that's what people with money want to invest in, because there is a potential market for space travel/tourism/mining, and because money isn't always allocated such that the benefit to humanity is maximized. Note that I personally am fine with billions going into space exploration, and I think it can be worked on in tandem with climate issues. Just trying to address what seems to be the crux of the issue - you're saying "shouldn't we..." whereas the world is saying "this is how things are."