My personal vested interest in Space Travel is a desire to get off this planet. I recognize that space exploration and colonization with primarily be a project of power elites and corporations, so I think it's vitally important for free humans to be involved and perhaps even beat them to it.

I do agree completely that the money being spent on space projects would be better spent on projects here on Earth -- but the fact of the matter is, people don't starve in Africa because there's not enough food, just like people don't go homeless here in the United States because there is not enough shelter. Simple human cruelty and selfishness are the real reasons for our "social ills", not a lack of abundant natural resources -- and I would agree with anyone who questions if that's a virus we really want to send out into the cosmos.

Ultimately, as with any other technology, moral concerns are a luxury and beside the point -- space travel, just like genetic engineering, AI and nanotech, will come to pass. All we can hope to do is wield the double-edged sword with some degree of intelligence and forethought.