Why don't they nuke that orbiting space station and use the extra funds to explore the solar system and beyond

Why do people care about this space station "orbiting money pit" or what i also like to call a "vacation for astronauts" Wouldn't you rather use the extra funds to explore the solar system and beyond than watch astronauts playing in zero g gravity. Im sure the experiments in orbit such as watching spiders spin webs, mold growing, ants making a tunnel, and etc. are important but wouldn't you rather hear about a super nova or whats under the ice sheets of europa.

Politics. Don't overestimate the ability of either politicians or scientists to do more than will benefit their own careers. The ISS's cost-benefit doesn't justify its existence, but it provides jobs for a lot of people in a lot of fields, and few of those people are likely to admit any time soon that their fields and jobs aren't as important as interplanetary exploration.

Besides that, there are still the moon and mars freaks who think the greatest thing in the world will be for a human to stand on mars, or on the moon again, so everyone can say hurrah and feel good like in the old days.

There are few who see deep space probes as a priority. They haven't been swayed by the huge successes robots have made in the last decade, and probably never will. Things won't change until they retire.

NASA is, after all, a government agency, and as such its primary purpose is to benefit the government. Governments love propaganda and back in the 90's, when the cold war ended, a big space station seemed like a neat idea that the public would like. Never mind if it was useful or not. So it was built.

People first have to learn how to keep alive in space.

Also, in order to explore space fully, we need to make it worthwhile; we need to find a job in space - a purpose for being there. 'Playing in zero gravity' may lead to discoveries of what we could be doing in space.