Am I talking sense on my soap box

There are things in this world we can do and cannot. So when it comes to the things can't do why aren't trying to do them? It seems to me that we just don't seem to be able to do them or as in most cases it's too expensive. If that is the case why do we spend billions of pounds to put men on the moon but we can't cure poverty in a world that's rich in most things or why can we can spend billions of pounds building these great big nuclear plants? Which turn out to be quite dangerous but why can't we can't cure homelessness or poverty? The thing that keeps popping into my mind is why do we spend all this money on things that either can harm us badly or that are just no use to us at this present moment in time? Are we secretly planning international housing estates on the moon or something or will the moon be turned in to one huge international prison colony?
Forgive me but you have to remember I have been in a my own world for quite a number years due to my old habits, drugs and drink to be precise and suddenly I don't need them anymore. I've woken up to all these new ideas. So me not being in my hazy world has sort of left me with so many questions and the most the important I think is. Why is life not more important than flying to the moon or curing aids and cancer? Shouldn't we be curing what ails this planet now instead of spending billions on bigger war machines and going further into space because make no mistake. This planet is dying and so are millions of people from hunger and pollution and sickness? It seems to me that while we are gallivanting around the universe trying to find other forms of life that might kill us. We are letting ourselves and our planet die slowly anyway.