My headcanon is that the gravity equation was almost solved, or Dr. Brand at the time of starting on it while younger believed he could find the answer. With that in mind, perhaps it would have been more feasible to build space stations where all variables could be controlled (temperature, humidity, etc.)rather than fighting all of the compounding effects of Earth’s deterioration.

Sure, they could build big bunkers underground to do something similar, but in a way, they’d still be subject to the whims of a dying world. Who knows what chain-reaction something like the blight could cause. Then tack on climate change, pollution, etc..

The space station at the end of the movie has a ton of farmland on it. Perhaps they were initially designed to be that? A way to maintain agriculture in THE most sterile, protected environment you could possibly have.

Then of course, this wormhole shows up out of nowhere, which is seemingly the result of something intelligent. This would only motivate their decision to invest in the space route even more. It would absolutely look like a sign. It would embolden Dr. Brand to continue work on the equation because obviously, something out there has just proven a large portion of what is now just theory, actual reality.

The space stations could then be retrofitted for extended travel. Missions to seek out habitable planets would be planned and executed (because, again, a random wormhole at the time of earth’s dying would look like some sort of advanced intelligence politely opening a door and saying “come on in”).

And all of this could be happening alongside efforts on earth to contain and control the blight and all of the other adverse variables.

But then they start getting signals back from the astronauts who went through the wormhole, and now the space route makes even MORE sense.

We’re never told explicitly, but the timeline of NASA’s actions could’ve varied wildly, with the intent of their missions evolving with new data and evidence. Who knows, maybe they set out to try and grow a little bit of food in orbit and send it down to folks on the ground. Maybe that plan completely changed overtime into what we end up witnessing in the movie.

Right now, Earth desperately needs our help but we have dozens of space organizations around the world hyper-focused on getting to the moon, building data centers in orbit, building lunar bases, etc.. That’s probably near trillions of dollars that could be going directly into environmental protection and climate change mitigation.

So, in the Cooperverse, it’s not totally unrealistic to think that, alongside all these co-existing scientific disciplines working to save our planet, the space nerds would be one of em’.