Believe it or not that is the exact question many people asked about the Apollo programs back in the 50s-80s. Along the way of getting to the moon we've made many scientific advancements that contributed to where we are today so it isn't all a loss. For example digital signal processing which anchors CAT scans tech. This is what most people don't get about research, just because it started out for different purposes doesn't mean the end result won't benefit another field...