Wednesday Update - Mars

If you hadn't yet heard, there is a private organization, Mars One, looking to send the first colonists to Mars in just ten years time. Think about that. In 2025 four people out of 200,000 that applied will be sent to colonize Mars for the human race. What makes it intriguing or horrifying, depending on your stance, is that it is a one way trip. They will live out the rest of their lives on this planet that is 140 million miles away. They will never see their loved ones again or have a chance to raise a family - yeah didn't you hear? There is no sex allowed between these pioneers of space.

It's a lot to be giving up, life as you know it and going with the knowledge that you will never set foot on the planet you were born on again. You will die where no other human has ever even been to before. But on the other hand, you will experience things no other human has. You may die on a far away planet but in a sense you will reach immortality. Your name will go down as the first people on Mars, just like Armstrong and Aldrin were the first people on the moon, except, they got to come back. Streets and schools will undoubtedly be named after you and, depending on who they pick, it's a chance you might have never gotten otherwise.

They have narrowed the search down to the last 100 people. They will get physical and psychological evaluations before they are sent the Red Planet to make sure they are the right candidates. What I tried to wrap my head around when I first read this, about a year or so ago, was the fact humans are going to Mars in my lifetime. In all honesty, I can now relate to people in the early 20th century who saw man first take flight, I'm sure they never imagined they would bare witness to that. And now flying is such a common everyday occurrence we sometimes forget how far we've come in such a short time. It is truly mind-boggling.