re: Sci Fi vs Sci Reality
The Pioneer and Voyager probes won't reach the distance of the nearest star (4.2 light years) for over 80,000 years.
Solar sails might cut that down to under 2,000 years. Orion nuclear fission could do it in 125 years. Daedalus fusion power could do it in 36. And if we can ever develop a feasible antimatter engine, we could do it in just 4.2 years.
As for FTL drives and cosmic wormholes, it would be easier to develop the concepts I just listed.
But the thing is, we are still thinking that human crews will make such trips. Not practical. We need beings that will think nothing of a few thousand years with minds that won't fail in one form or another during such long journeys.