Jobs aside, pushing the envelope scientifically is how we advance as a civilization. The space and aeronautical achievements made by the US over the last 100 years have brought us incalculable scientific advantages that we must maintain or lose. $0.02
Mars?!
If Luna was 1 mile away and takes 5 days to get there Mars would be over 1250 miles away & Iāll let you do the travel time math. 
Why donāt we put more effort into preventing the diseases killing people on Earth? Making healthier food profitable? Cleaning the air & oceans full of trash?
Plenty of challenge & new technologies needed there.
The residual things that we achieved along the way to putting a Man on the Moon the first time, you now enjoy everyday. Computers, Cell Phones, Microwave Ovens, GPS all of that was an afterthought achievements when trying to get Man to the Moon.
After the Plauges of Europe in the Middle Ages, as soon as we humans could pop our heads out of the holes we were hiding in. We gathered and built great things. It made us feel better, it educated us as we built it, commerce rose up around it and Men sought to be free.
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I didnāt realize we had so many optimists in here! 
Iām not.
We know the travel time, approx 6 months with current tech, will get shorter with advancements in propulsion. Men got in wooden ships and were gone for years or decades with no idea what awaited them. Thatās what humans do, we explore, itās as hardwired into our DNA as anything we do. Nothing more or less. Much trickle down text (see article linked) exists, much national pride, mil/defense benefits, potential profit motives, etc aside, all secondary as far as Iām concerned.
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And to think we could have been able to do this for the last 40 years if we werenāt carrying so many deadbeats on our backs.