They're learning all kinds of things by seeing how plants grow in microgravity and more recently how 3D printers work in the same. It didn't need to cost a trillion dollars for that, but now that it's there, we might just get over a trillion dollars worth of science out of it.

But still, we're to the point where not a state, not a government entity, but a rich, bored dude is sending people into space as a viable business model

Thinking our space tech is going backwards is severely myopic