Here's Why They Didn't Just Send Synthetic Bodies to Space in Black Mirror S06E03
Though not entirely satisfactory, the answer is more logical than it seems.
Despite polarized reactions ranging from admiration to outright hatred, Season 6 of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror has proved to be the wittiest and most thought-provoking show of the year. One of its most memorable episodes is, of course, 'Beyond the Sea,' featuring a unique retro-futuristic aesthetics with touches of dystopian melancholy and horror.
However, this episode was not without its flaws, as many viewers weren't satisfied with the logic and coherence of the plot. For example, why did they send humans into space and left their robotic counterparts on Earth, not the other way around?
In an alternate 1969, astronauts played by Aaron Paul and Josh Hartnett are sent on a six-year mission to explore deep space. Essentially, the astronauts are only required on the spacecraft for maintenance and solving urgent technical problems, but if everything goes smoothly, their routine in space is limited to eating and exercising to keep their bodies in shape.
More often than not, the characters are free to 'leave' their ship, transferring their consciousness to their synthetic bodies back on Earth. The robots are almost identical to the human astronauts, so they can go around their daily lives and spend time with their families.
This led people to wonder, if the robots are so easy to operate, don't consume food, and don't require much energy to recharge, why not send them into space instead of humans, who will suffer health damage?
This seems to be one of the most popular questions among fans right now. But in fact, the answer is right there at the beginning of the episode, although it can be easily missed by a viewer who's not invested in the story yet and doesn't understand what's going on.
At the beginning of 'Beyond the Sea,' it's mentioned that humanity needs to find out how spending years in space affects the human body. The synthetic bodies look exactly like their human counterparts, but they are not exact replicas of human bodies and cannot be used to monitor people's health in space.
Perhaps this answer simply covers up the plot hole and doesn't solve it entirely. But we can still fantasize and assume that if the replicas break down, no one would be able to repair them in space, or that communication delays due to distance were a factor that made it easier to leave the synthetic bodies on Earth.
Still, we should remember that space travel in 'Beyond the Sea' is used merely as an artistic device to explore technophobia and the darker side of human nature. Also, Charlie Brooker has always left the mysteries of the Black Mirror episodes unresolved, allowing viewers to speculate even more about ambiguous ethical dilemmas.