Soviet Union as a materially poor country will not pour so much money into exploring space if it wasn't so important politically at the moment.

The US was much wealthier, but also skipped space spendings the first moment politics no longer persuaded space exploration.

Stuff like GPS and especially Glonass were also borne out of political goals. Same for ISS.

If anything, the only way we may get to explore solar system is via political push.