I agree with most of that. Charles Stross has a great essay on why space travel is horrible, and that robots are far, far better choices for almost any kind of

I agree with most of that. Charles Stross has a great essay on why space travel is horrible, and that robots are far, far better choices for almost any kind of mission. Hauling people around the universe is expensive, they're so fragile and needy. I mean, just look at the infrastructure it takes to keep them breathing. The SF novel I was thinking of was Niven and Pournelle's Footfall, where industrious aliens have solved all the hard problems of living for long periods in space, including keeping the lights on, getting rid of waste heat, and maintaining a stable ecosystem. They incorporate their dead into a ceremonial garden where they grow flowers or something. It is all very, very sketchy in practice, of course. Kim Stanley Robinson has a more realistic take in his book Aurora (and it's depressing, one of the few books of his I have no intention of re-reading). But I still don't think dead people in space are embarrassing. Or if they are, that it's a big deal. It's more of a problem with litter, like the tourists currently cluttering up the slopes of Mt Everest.