What is the purpose of space exploration?

Absolutely nothing. The whole "space race" thing is getting really out of hand and it is extremely unnecessary. The US is spending billions of dollars to get people into space just for bragging rights. I really don't understand why the government or whomever is running this charade thinks it necessary to send people to space. OK, so we're the number one country in space exploration, hoorah, we still have thousands of jobless/homeless/starving/sick/old people roaming around. But who cares when we can say we sent fruit flies into outer space, right?