But the benefits of sending replicas is WAY larger than possibly losing the link.
I thought that at first too but I got the impression that the replicas aren’t self operating - Basically they “sleep” the entire time their human host isn’t plugged into it. The families on earth must spend a lot of time alone without the astronauts but at least their replica allows them to visit more frequently, I guess? That also implies the space station needs to be staffed 24/7 for the most part hence why the humans are up there.
Also agree with /u/[email protected] this episode didn’t really need all the replica tech stuff, I get the feeling the writers were trying to set up some sort of body switch romance gone wrong & this is what they ended up with.