Mars One, a nonprofit foundation created to establish permanent human life on Mars, announced Tuesday that it has whittled its application field down to 100.
Some 202,586 applicants originally signed up for the one-way trip to the Red Planet in 2024,
Mars One said on its website. The 100 finalists were selected out of 660 candidates after personal online interviews with Dr. Norbert Kraft, the foundation's chief medical officer.
"The large cut in candidates is an important step towards finding out who has the right stuff to go to Mars," said Bas Lansdorp, co-founder and chief executive officer of Mars One. "These aspiring Martians provide the world with a glimpse into who the modern day explorers will be."
Four will eventually make the first trip to Mars,
according to the Washington Post. The question now is have the would-be Martians told their mothers and significant others yet.
Mars One said in the pool of 100 finalists are 50 men and 50 women from around the world, including 39 from the Americas, 31 from Europe, 16 from Asia, seven from Africa, and seven from Oceania.
The Post noted that the youngest candidates were 18 when they applied in 2013 while the oldest candidate, Reginald George Foulds, of Toronto, was 60.
Nineteen of the remaining candidates have no college degrees, two have associates, 27 have bachelor degrees, 30 have earned their master's degrees, one has earned a law degree, four have medical degrees and seven have PhDs.
Thirteen of the candidates are currently in school, 81 are employed and six are not working.
"I have always been interested in space; I grew up in the 80s watching shuttle launches, but always used to think that space travel was just for the Americans," Alison Rigby, 35, a lab technician from East London, told
CNN about making final 100.
"When the opportunity came up I had to put my name forward. Generally the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive from my friends and family since I told them I was down to the final 100, but it's going to be difficult for my mum. I haven't told her yet."
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