An extinction level event asteroid is pretty much a matter of when not if. We probably don't need to go to space to survive, but space is a great research area

An extinction level event asteroid is pretty much a matter of when not if. We probably don't need to go to space to survive, but space is a great research area to develop life sustaining technology, skills and knowledge that could be put into practice on earth to survive the many years it might take for humans to survive that ELE.