The Space Race bankrupted an already failing command economy in the USSR. However it was a massive economic boon for US capitalists, as evidenced by our aerospace and defense industries today. The great thing about defense spending is that it is almost entirely domestic. We're not running up some huge trade deficit with a foreign power. It creates millions of jobs from Florida to California.

On the other hand, see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window.

How does that apply here?

I believe the question is “does the spending result in a net benefit to society?”

I’d add in a consideration of the opportunity cost.

That’s not the broken window fallacy though.

That only works if you can survive the overspend, because it's being used to actively destroy you at the moment.

Ah, ... I see they've cut back on the education and civility budgets to accommodate for more military spending.