What astronauts who went to the Moon remember most was our planet seen from there!
I'm sure astronauts going to Mars will also mainly remember seeing our planet getting bigger and bigger on the way back.

We can't fathom humans permanently living away from Earth because it would condemn them never to return back to their planet and that would go against their main goal: freedom.

Maybe one day they might not consider this as being "jailed in space" but, I'm not sure what their state of mind would be if they didn't care about Earth.

We have to remember that even before Apollo 16, we knew the shuttle would replace the Apollo program and we found this normal, obvious as we expected 50 flights a year and our planet mattered more than the Moon. Even before STS 1, we knew the tiles were becoming its weakest link. Right after STS 1, space stations became the next natural goal in space, such as this:

Unfortunately, the current space station has also become victim of the shuttle's tiles....and the US changes its direction, again.
Let's hope we don't have to wait too long for some new projects.