More than 200,000 individuals applied for the rare chance to travel to planet Mars and never come back, reflecting a relatively popular interest in living on the Red Planet.
Now, 100 of these dreamers are a step closer to having the opportunity to spend the rest of their lives on an alien world.
Mars One, the private and nonprofit organization that hopes to establish a permanent human base on planet Mars, has named 100 of the 202,586 hopeful who would proceed to the next stage of the Mars One Astronaut Selection Process, bringing them closer to their dream of becoming the first humans to set foot on the Red Planet.
The number of aspiring Martian explorers at the beginning of the selection process was reduced to over 1,000 in the first selection round and further diminished to 660.
From these 660 candidates who participated in online interviews with Norbert Kraft, the mission's chief medical officer, 50 men and 50 women made it to the third selection round. These participants have shown how they understand the risks involved in the mission, team spirit and their motivation to participate in the expedition.
"The large cut in candidates is an important step towards finding out who has the right stuff to go to Mars," said Mars One co-founder and CEO Bas Lansdorp. "These aspiring Martians provide the world with a glimpse into who the modern day explorers will be."
The Mars 100 Round Three candidates who passed the second round came from many parts of the globe. Thirty-nine were from the Americas, 31 from Europe, 16 from Asia, seven from Africa and seven from Oceania.
Included in this pool of candidates is 38-year-old "M1-K0," who hails from Poland and claims to be a Martian who was sent to our planet and would be happy to help humans explore the Red Planet.
Maggie Lieu, 24, a space science graduate and astrophysics student at the University of Birmingham also made it to the magic 100. She said that she can trace back her interest from when she was 12 years old.
"I've always wanted to be an astronaut but it's never been a realistic dream so I swayed towards being a rocket scientist and I did a space science undergraduate degree," Lieu said.
Ryan MacDonald, 22, who is taking his Master's degree in physics at the University of Oxford, is the only British man who qualified for the 100-person team.
