How about instead of reversing the genders we take the explicit notiong of gender out altogether? The men in the story are symbols not people - they are symbolic representatives of an unequal society and of the unpleasant characteristics that develop in people/societies when they exist in the context of an imbalance in power. Equally, the women in the story are also symbols and not people. They are symbolic representatives of a balanced society, a society without inequality.

This being the case, it's possible to read the story as making the point that there simply is no room for the characteristics created by an unequal society in an equal one. That in the context of an equal society such characteristics would just not be able to flourish.

Hmm, I wonder how the story would pan out if the astronauts had been female and not male? On my reading, the exact same thing would have happened - because even as female the astronauts would still have been a product of an unequal society.