“Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space” -HHGG
If your goal is to explore the vastness of space, then use sensors and send robotic probes. Let robots suffer the mindless tedium required to travel years or decades in order to run a few tests. Let probes suffer the double indignity of wasted time if you want samples returned to earth. .