Broad question. For some it's humanities's desire to explore. There are countless worlds out there that can support human life. No two are the same, some are were colonized by humans others are home to sentient life and civilizations older than humans have existed. Then there’s all manner of strange phenomenon in space who wouldn't want the chance to leave home and see just a fraction of it?
As for Andromeda, well Heavy Meldar’s a major traffic hub for the galaxy railway most space ships going from the Milky Way to Andromeda. It’s likes to think it’s the wild west on a good day and they've got a few towns that really know how to distill Bourbon. There are also a few factions originating in Andromeda that my comrades and I were keeping an eye on. [Be it Promethium or the Metanoids plenty of people wanting to a wipe out all organic life were hiding out there.]