"The thought of living the rest of your life in a small capsule with no possibility of getting back and with no real-time communication to earth doesn't sound t

"The thought of living the rest of your life in a small capsule with no possibility of getting back and with no real-time communication to earth doesn't sound that promising." That depends on your perspective. Similar but less extreme arguments apply to: * Living on a small boat at sea (or setting sail for another country in the 1600s) * Living on the international space station * Going west in the 1800s You have a valid point that it makes more economic sense to send robots. But my post (and it's parent) weren't about the economics. They were answering the OP's title: Why Did 400 People Volunteer for a One-Way Trip to Mars?