You’re not wrong, but that sounds like the program simply allocates public funds to development of military technologies under the guise of space exploration. No different to the first space race.

If the benefits are so great I imagine the Apollo program would not have faded away. That’s a lot of effort and money expended to plant a flag (or plant another before the Chinese do it). The difference this time is the US and China are racing for the moon, but only one of them has crumbling infrastructure and a lack of modern public transport back on Earth.