Why should the lives of people living in the area be risked for some future of humanity philosophy?
I'm sure the average person on earth doesn't care about the future of humanity after an extinction event.
I'm sure the average person on earth doesn't care about the future of humanity after an extinction event.
So nobody was at risk at any point during the test.
Not to mention the whole test flight being setup so that even if everything went wrong no one could have possibly been hurt (eq. just enough fuel to reach inside the exclusion zone, self destruct system, etc.).
Getting wiped out by people jet-setting around the planet on holiday is more likely. Planet-level extinction movies are a popular genre, so yes, we do care.
Things are a lot easier to make safe when launching towards water, but some countries don't have that luxury.
Long March 3B launched from Xichang, China on 1996-02-15, immediately veered off course and crashed into a village near the launch site.
Official death toll is 6 dead, 57 injured, though some eyewitnesses present at the launch believe the death toll must have been much higher.
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.