I think we underestimate the importance of a starry sky for the development of intelligence. A species looking up at complete blackness will probably never develop higher reasoning or curiosity.
Sure, they might not feel the need to visit space if they had no stars, no moon and no sun but who knows? They might end up going there anyway due to population and create their own superstructures.
And even if they could glimpse the distant galaxies, what could conceivably motivate them to develop space travel?
Am just wondering aloud. Astronomy was (and is) a pretty fundamental pillar of our scientific development and all that it has brought us. An inky black sky would have interesting effects upon nascent, intelligent species.
One planet is in a dust cloud. The sky was completely black, and thus the people of that planet led insular lives and never realised the existence of the Universe. They eventually built a small ship and managed to exit the dust cloud. Upon first witnessing the glory and splendor of the Universe, they casually, whimsically, decided to destroy it, remarking, "It'll have to go."
The race changed from a peaceful one to the most violent warfaring race of the galaxy.
I suspect that early humans found plenty of mysterious phenomena around them, and would continue to do so even with a perfectly black sky.