In a certain way, it does feel close. We can’t figure out how to go faster than light, but we could theoretically get to a significant fraction of c and 20 years isn’t such a long time to plan for in terms of getting a probe there to start relaying messages that take 20 years to get back.
I mean, it’s the span of a career, but people could conceivably work on the launch and live to see it return data.