Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has a side business in space exploration. Elon Musk has SpaceX, which is working on private space travel. Richard Branson has Virgin Galactic for going to outer space. 

Bill Gates doesn't get it. In fact, he's disdainful of people that are spending money and time on space exploration.

In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, he was asked about what he thought space exploration, and whether he thought it was good for humanity. Here's his response:

Everybody’s got their own priorities. In terms of improving the state of humanity, I don’t see the direct connection. I guess it’s fun, because you shoot rockets up in the air. But it’s not an area that I’ll be putting money into.