>>> We should have launched craft that direction years ago.
Ya never know, it might get there.. eventually. :-)
A year or two ago on a thread regarding the Voyager space probes launched thirty years ago, I did the math. To reach Alpha Centauri at their current speeds would take 98,000 years, give or take.
Depending on the lights.
The Voyager probes are moving faster than any craft humans have ever launched, but using propulsion that isn’t based on simple chemistry, the distance could be bridged in less than 20,000 years. ;’)
http://nmp.nasa.gov/ds1/tech/ionpropfaq.html
http://www.google.com/search?q=plasma+engine