re: So what?
Not at all, expanding human presence and earths biosphere into space is a worthwhile goal if we want to preserve things beyond the next big catastrophe to occur on earth.
And it's a challenge. We need challenges, if we don't have a challenge to meet then we don't learn and progress.
And it's an adventure, that a lot of people want to take part in. People want the chance to experiance what it's like for themselves.
Space flight is not the preseve of scientists, it's for the whole human race, and the ISS, as badly mauled as it has been one way or another, is there because we're irrational and we want to see people up there, just because it feels good to see them there.