“so what is to be accomplished by going outside our short range area of near space and moon?”
The satisfying of the human thirst for knowledge, and sometimes knowledge for which we don’t, at the time, have a practical reason for.
Your question could be asked - why have all the long range telescopes we have on earth; very little practical application has been seen from our knowledge gained with them.
So, do you understand why humans will not rest with just was is practical, or with merely was has a practical application.
And, besides, in the search for “impractical” knowledge we have developed technology and products that floated into the practical sphere with great consequences sometimes.
“The satisfying of the human thirst for knowledge, and sometimes knowledge for which we don’t, at the time, have a practical reason for”
We don’t have enough time and money to take an “Edison approach” to learn how not to successfully land on Mars without first perfecting cheap and reliable ways to get bulk cargo into orbit.
Then how to get to and sustain a presence on the moon.
Then how to make fuel and structures on the moon, including spacecraft.
Then we can go to mars.
Skipping obvious precursor steps is not how we will get to mars.
I wish we had invested more in space science and less in guitar-playing Canadian astronauts