I've heard a theory that the starblaster was never meant to be as important or last as long as it did; that the crew were meant to go spend a month or so in another plane and then come back to share their results and research, but nobody really expected it to work, or expected them to survive. The crew of the starblaster is made up of powerful misfits - people nobody will miss, in the likely event that the ship never returns.

Which leads up to the question of why did they all agree to go on such a mission in the first place?!