The distance/speed is not the only hurdle in space travel, there is also the question of solar-particles� effect on human body, fuel, food, water, and our own destructive nature. But before that there are a few possible extinction level scenarios one has to consider. There is Yellowstone�s pending eruption, Ice Age, asteroids, plagues, cold war� And what�s the point of conquering another planet when we can conquer our own?
Actually this has always bothered me, we make a mess and rather than fixing it look elsewhere to ruin. It�s like we all want to find intelligence out �there� yet ignore the one here. How on Earth are we going to live in peace with alien life when we can�t accept our own?