At the end of the day, I think the problem is that the gameplay loops are in conflict. In Stardew Valley, if you plant a plant or chop a log, you get get something from it, which you can then use to further your goals of making wine or friends or whatever.
In Starstruck Vagabond, the objective you're thinking about is getting the ship from point A to B, which it would be perfectly capable of doing if the #$@! air cycles could stay working for five minutes. When you fix them, you just get the opportunity to get back to the game.
I think folks wouldn't mind the fast rate of decay if this was a survival game about keeping the spaceship running for as long as possible, but this is supposed to be a game about doing things WITH the ship, but your ship just happens to be garbage.