If we were one of the chosen few why do our bodies fall prey to radiation so easily (and there are all kinds outside the protective magnetosphere of the Earth)?
Also, what about our seeming inability to create artificial gravity (on a practical level).
Finally, you may want to re-phrase your first sentence. To explore the universe is extraordinary - to explore a single galaxy would take lifetimes.
Micrometeorites (and other space debris)
would also be particularily troublesome on any journey.
I'm not so sure we are one of the chosen few to explore it. It almost seems like a cruel trick. We can "see" so much, gather so much data, etc. yet we are still stuck in our puny solar system.
Son of a...... If only I was born a few thousand years in the future, maybe, just maybe I'd be able to travel star to star.
Anyway, that's my two cents.
See ya, VINCE