The nearest star is ~4 light years, and it is of a type that we think unlikely to have life. Even at 150 light years there isn't a whole lot out there, though I guess it is no longer in the impossible realm, it also isn't really enough stars to think of the Fermi paradox applying yet.
We send humans to live in orbit where there wouldn’t normally be conditions fit for life thanks to our technology. I don’t think habitability precludes life from being there, especially if it emerged elsewhere and this is more of an outpost or research station akin to the ISS or antarctic stations of our own. Perhaps there are interesting things there in uninhabited systems, or they make a ripe environment for certain experiments or work that is unfit to perform so close to a habitable system.
