Who once advertized thusly for men to accompany him on an expedition
to the Antarctic:

"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success."

http://www.antarctic-circle.org/advert.htm

This advert may not actually have happened, but the sentiment of the
era rings true. And Shackelton did get plenty of volunteers for his
mission to Antarctica, which was very hazardous, but he did not lose
a single man.

The early days of the Space Age also had this bold sense of adventure,
even if it was also to best a rival superpower and its own space
program.

Forty years ago this month, three men were sent on a journey to the
Moon in a spaceship that had only flown once before with humans
aboard in low Earth orbit launched on the world's most powerful rocket
that had never had humans as passengers before. The crew of Apollo 8
did not even have a Lunar Module to serve as a lifeboat in case
something went wrong with the main ship.

Less than one year later, we had men on the Moon.

Then three years later, we quit and haven't sent anyone back since,
let alone colonized another world. Most of the focus on space
colonization Bowser worries about is all theoretical and on paper alone.

The space station with its few astronauts do not count as a permanent
presence in space as far as I am concerned, plus they can be home in
minutes should a problem arise.

How much has been spent on supposedly improving life on Earth
compared to exploring space? Too much on the former with mixed
results and not nearly enough on the latter.

And if you are so worried about people not being able to make it on
alien worlds, then genetically engineer humans to live in all kinds of
conditions and you will have guaranteed the survival of our species.