The ISS delivered far more bang for the buck than quite a few other megaprojects. Last but by no means least it provided a target for the nascent private space

The ISS delivered far more bang for the buck than quite a few other megaprojects. Last but by no means least it provided a target for the nascent private space industry, leading to things like reusable rockets. That would have been possible without it, but it's being there helped.