Nobody from the 1960's will ever believe that for almost the entirety of the decade of 2010, the United States will be without manned space flight capability...
Humans can repair electronics, perform assembly in space and run a wide variety of experiments. Automation works, but it's hard to make as general-purpose.
asteroid mining will provide an impetus to develop assembly robots capable of matching human flexibility and autonomy. we're not there yet, though.
[1]https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/08/how-and-why-spacex-will-colon...
They will most likely die (and live) there.
In the fictional Red Mars book by Kim Stanley Robinson, astronauts who had maxed out their radiation exposure often weren't allowed to continue missions.