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Well, it's not a suicide mission, exactly. Just very dangerous with high chance of death. Lots of test pilots from that period would take those chances. I just had an interesting discussion with my daughter about this – she asked if I would go to space if it meant not returning. My first answer is 'no', though "if I had" a terminal condition and was down to my last year, I might. But then who would want to send a guy in late stages of cancer, for example?
Reminds me a scifi short story I read years and years ago about a guy who illegally transports a dying man to the moon and leaves him there to die. The man is the guy who made space exploration possible, but whose health was too poor to send him in space. Anyone remember a story like that? (Couldn't find it after 5 furious minutes googling).