INSIDE EDITION has the story of a surprising number of volunteers who are willing to go to Mars and never come back.
If you could take a one-way trip to Mars, would you do it?
One hundred brave volunteers are now vying to become the first humans to colonize Mars starting in 2024. They were chosen from more than 200,000 applicants by Mars One, a private Dutch company that hopes to send a four-person crew to Mars.
The journey to Mars would take seven months from Earth.
INSIDE EDITION’s Steven Fabian spoke to 36-year-old Sonia Van Meter, a political consultant from Austin, Texas, who told him that the classic TV show Star Trek inspired her to sign up.
She said, “Mars One is our opportunity to take the next giant leap for mankind. That is a show all about space exploration but more than that it was about being the best version of yourself. It was about overcoming tremendous obstacles."
Another adventurer, 43-year-old Christopher Patil of Somerville, Massachusetts, grew up watching Carl Sagan’s Cosmos on TV.
“I've wanted something like this since I was a little boy. Nine years old watching Carl Sagan’s Cosmos,” he said.
The red planet is an endless subject of fascination to mankind. Everything from Mission to Mars to the comedy Mars Attacks!
But this latest Mars adventure takes itself seriously. If the mission takes off, the colonists will live in pods on the planet surface. The interior looks a little like a luxury hotel. The colonists will grow their own food.
Patil said, “Someday, I hope to make the first perfect omelet on Mars."
There is one incredibly big catch. There's no way to return to Earth.
Patil told Fabian, “It would be sad. It would be the hardest thing I ever did to say goodbye to Earth, but in exchange for an entire world I would be willing to do it.”
Fabian asked, “Even though you can't come back?”
“I like to think of it as a return mission not yet scheduled,” he replied.
And get this, Sonia Van Meter has a husband and two stepsons. She said “I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't have the absolute, relenting support from my husband and my family."
Skeptics doubt the mission to Mars will ever take place. It will cost billions.
One study says the colonists would most likely die after just 68 days from starvation or poisoned by the atmosphere.
That doomsday scenario isn’t stopping these space cadets from dreaming.
“If it’s in my power, I'm going,” said Van Meter.
Though officially the mission is supposed to happen in 2024, just maybe no one will ever go to Mars. Turns out all of this is being filmed for a reality TV show.
