Do We Need to Modify Human DNA to Travel to the Stars - Long Term Space Exploration Thoughts

Not long ago, I was talking to a conspiracy theorist friend of mine,
who is fully into the whole UFO concept, and aliens from outer space.
In fact he travels to Roswell once a year for their annual convention
and anniversary of the Roswell Incident. He is a fun person to talk
to, as long as I don't have to talk to him for too long, because he
gets really into the conspiracy thing.Nevertheless, the other day over
coffee I asked him what if the aliens from Roswell are not actually
aliens at all, what if they are genetically engineered species created
by humans for long-term space travel? What if they are us or they
share our DNA, and were created by us in the future and sent back to
past periods. And what if they were doing fine in their time travels
but unfortunately their spaceship crash when it entered the radar
field area which disrupted their anti-gravitational system or their
propulsion system, causing them to crash land in Roswell?After I asked
him this question, because as you probably realize I am a science
fiction reader, I just smiled and leaned back, to hear what he had to
say. Oh, he was livid, he sees this alien encounter as a great
conspiracy, almost as if it's a religion of some kind, it's totally
bizarre. Still, the question that I had put forth is worth thinking
about. Not from a conspiracy theorist standpoint, but rather from a
science fiction standpoint of what we might have to do with the future
if we want to travel to the stars.Humans have too many bones for zero
gravity space flight long-term, they really don't handle radiation
very well and there is a lot of radiation in space. Humans also eat
too much for long-term space flight. However if we could solve those
problems through genetic engineering we could send people or
genetically engineered species which are almost like humans to do the
exploration for us.Maybe NASA should be thinking here (hint: they
already are), and maybe we can use whatever we learn to help modified
human DNA to use less energy here on Earth, to eat less, and get rid
of some of things we don't need. For instance, we don't need a
tailbone, and our feet look pretty funny considering that we wear
shoes. There are a lot of things on the human body that are not
exactly what we need to survive here on this planet, and these things
could be modified, which would make our lives easier and more
adaptable.It would also make sense to do this for those that want to
live in space colonies so they can survive for long periods of time
without those same conditions that are here on Earth. We should study
this, even if we choose not to genetically modified humans in the
future. Merely because what we learn can help with future health care,
and the health of all humans on this planet.Let's face it, the
transfer technologies from NASA research has transformed the way we
live and work. It is amazing and no one can deny that much of our
modern amenities have come from space research, such as materials used
in everyday life, to the technology in our air-conditioning systems
cars. Indeed, much transfer technology also comes from the military
tech research; the Internet, Satellites, nuclear power, and jet
aircraft transportation.Anyway, I hope you will please consider all
this.References:1. Article in Homeland Security Newswire; "DARPA
looking to edit soldiers' DNA to boost performance," Published 4
February 2010, written by staff.2. Article in NASA News Online; "NASA
Space Technology Could Transform Life On Earth," by Ruth Dasso
Marlaire, report release # 10-88AR and posted on Oct. 20, 2010, from
NASA's life support research, scientists at NASA's Ames Research
Center, Moffett Field, CA.