It was super fucking cool. That's a material improvement by itself.

The space program is not the reason why people are homeless or kids are hungry or whatever the fuck. Notably the Soviets did almost everything in space before we did and it didn't exact a horrible toll on their society. Putting a bunch of people with a certain kind of intelligence together and having them bash through problems that seem impossible is something every society should put capital towards, because it benefits everyone in often unexpected ways.