It's a beautiful achievement of humanity. Like going to the moon. Someone might say there are some mining or rock-related applications around going to the moon, but it's mainly not about that.

I don't like to call this "purely academic" because that sounds dusty and smells moth-chewed and utterly boring. It's purely spiritual, purely heart-warming, purely brain-flexing.

It's like asking a mountain climber whether reaching K2 has practical benefits or if it's "academic".