Not a fan of my own upkeep, thank you very much. It kind of takes away from the sandbox aspect when I have to worry about eating.
To each their own, I'd say here. Personally, I'd like it if at some point team would have time and will to incorporate several submodes/difficulties as I personally would enjoy more than very simple sandbox, but free-roam survival game where oxygen, edibles, maintenance of bigger ships/fleet and general allocation of resources would be a concern. Currently, game boils down to 'build a ship, shoot some stuff' and that's it. Of course, there will be more and from that 'more' proper survival mode could benefit.
That being said, the way game is right now I don't feel too strongly about a need of regular upkeep, so I find your sentiment quite understandable. However, as I probably mentioned before, I'd like some obstacles to overcome when it comes to maintaining bigger ships and it's personnel, as if said would need merely some credits (which are easy to get) or exploration/looting (which would mean that sooner or later anyone will get plenty of NPCs) then there would be completely no challenge and thus, the whole idea would be useless.