(Ninja'd 3 times)
Heavily leaning towards hard sci fi (so the grown, organic spaceships of that one race are probably out). I'm willing to accept some assumptions on smaller and more efficient setups of currently known processes. Life support and food may not require an area that large, depending on the biochemistry of the plants involved, mechanical/artificial means of recycling breathable gas, the size the crew ends up being, or crew members with cybernetics to offset chemical energy needs. And the possibility of suspended animation/hibernation to reduce energy requirements when certain personnel aren't needed. Then there's the issue of what said crew members breathe, if the ship has to accommodate crew who breath different gasses, etc.
Especially given AI and robots, a crew of hundreds or even dozens is unnecessary to run the ship. And since it would be seen by most (if not all) as a likely suicide mission, the entities involved are probably not willing to expend a lot of personnel on it. So, the ship will likely have to support (at most) a few dozen people, and (at least) one dozen. Additionally, while I haven't seen any opposition to the idea so far, this being a government collab is not yet firmly decided. Or rather, since that's the likely direction, the nature of this collab is not yet decided. Did they all just decide it was worth a try, or did some scientist with a vision pitch the idea and gain their assistance (or some other motive?)
NOTE ON CHARACTERS: Race is important for background, and for the physical characteristics/likely limits of that character, but given the nature of this game, the character's individual description is what's most important.