Just thoughts throw this in:
When the first men went to the moon, they had no assurance that they'd come back home. That is to say, they did not know if it'd be possible for them to leave the moon - until they knew that they would be able to leave for all intents and purposes, their going to the moon was a sucicide mission.
That just goes to show how far humanity is willing to go for the sake of exploration. Well, at least I hope that's why, and they didn't have some more important and perhaps malicious intent.