Fair point. It's still striking to me how much public money is being thrown at a project that will benefit just a handful of private citizens.

A quarter billion dollars to build just a prototype and retread the Concorde fiasco with all its attendant environmental destruction. What does this have to do with exploring space, which is what I thought was NASA's mission?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3973tfsllqw

Healthcare please

What I mean is that Ukraine still fighting Russia with so much money being thrown at their defense doesn't seem to jive with a narrative of a foundering Russian military

If that's the state of the Russian military it says a lot that even with billions being thrown at Ukraine they're still fighting a year and half later