Our tax dollars should never support science that seeks to “discover” answers that can be found in scripture free of charge. Yet, I am constantly being FORCED to pay for university scientists who want to do things like measure the age of the Earth or find out the “nature of the universe.” We KNOW those things already. God WROTE A BOOK ABOUT IT. If atheists want to go off on a fool’s errand to “discover” something else, then they should pay for it themselves!
Not all of that curiosity goes to outer space. Some of it goes to inner space. Most of today’s electronic marvels, including this very internet, would have been impractical had it not been for solid state physicists.
Also in the case of things like the Higgs field/boson theory, outer space and inner space phenomena overlap. Theories about how the universe of outer space spread forth once it was created can shed light on inner space which can lead to new ways to use the phenomena of nature — i.e. what we call technology. Only the grossest know-nothing pans technology per se. It is neutral and can be put to either good or evil uses.