Pretty sure this means radical and revolutionary in the political sense. Though most scientists and astronauts weren't billionaires - they were government employees.
Yep. The race to the Moon was just a dick measuring contest between the US and USSR. Manned space travel is a meaningless ego trip for governments. Unmanned space travel is equally useless in practical terms - learning about other planets does nothing to help the proletariat on our own - but at least wastes less money.
Global internet connection via satellite, and GPS, on the other hand, have helped the proletariat in actual practical terms. It's a shame it took all that billionaire ego dick waving to get there.
China invented a few electric cars that are just as good as a Tesla for 1/3rd the price. Our benevolent plutocrats responded by putting a 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars.