Hundreds of thousands of would-be astronauts have been narrowed down to 100 who will proceed to the next round of the Mars One project for a chance to create a human colony on the red planet.
The candidates, 50 men and 50 women, come from all around the world. The majority, 39, are from the United States, with 31 from Europe, 16 from Asia, seven from Africa, and seven from Oceania.
Student Maggie Lieu, 24, who is doing her Astrophysics PHD at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom is one of those shortlisted.
“I’ve always loved science and space since a young age so it’s been my dream since I was a kid and now my dream’s pretty much coming true. To go to Mars you’d make a huge impact on mankind and just go down in history,” she said.
Another shortlisted candidate from Kent, 27-year old Clare Weedon, said she applied to go on the one-way trip because she thought it was “the ultimate experience of a lifetime.”
The Mars One outpost is due to be fully operational by 2023 and the first groups of humans are due to land there two years later, according to the Mars One website.
The nonprofit organization say they will examine the Martian terrain with a lender that will launch in 2018 testing it for human habitation before the first humans arrive in a project that is estimated to cost around $6 billion.
But so far, the organization has only received donated revenues totaling to just under $760,000.
(Reuters)
