You are not paying them to waste time though. You are paying them to develop a very advanced (and valuable) skillset. You are paying to develop and mature your nation's scientific community and education system, to provide them access to facilities and capabilities they previously lacked.

The IRSO didn't sit on their asses twiddling their thumbs while consuming money for several years, only to have a rocket pop out of think air. They were working their asses off, developing new skill-sets and advancing their understanding of their field.

Just to clarify, I was addressing the general form of argument, not the concrete example of whether space research is a waste of time. Personally, I consider advancing science and the arts very worthwhile goals of public spending, but that's a different point.