I think the nature of humans is to explore. That's why the words from Star Trek resonate so profoundly with everyone of a certain generation - "to boldly go where no one has gone before".
If we ever have the opportunity to send a manned flight to Europa, I would jump on it in a heart beat if I were trained and qualified.
When we were teenagers, my brother always said he would give up a life of Earthly luxury if he could get a spot on the first inter-stellar flight to Alpha Centauri. And I don't think he was shitting me - he was dead serious.
Escaping an over populated planet, or moving out into the solar system because of environmental catastrophe are practical and eminently sensible reasons. But have grown up with Star Trek, NASA, and Apollo, I always thought of manned space flight as a metaphor for what it means to be a human of boundless and unbridled curiosity.
