Having large rockets to launch anything for non-military purposes is a byproduct of the requirement by the military of several nations for the capability to deliver thermonuclear warheads on their adversaries.
It says that we're part predators, part prey animals and as such are more interested in defending our territory and possibly gaining some new territory than we are in gazing at the skies for some purpose which neither the predator nor the prey would recognise. Hard science is a new thing in evolutionary terms, the purpose for which those KH satellites were launched is as old as our species.
