You'd think having watched Gravity would have turned Joseph Roche off ever going into space (like it did for most of us), but no, this Kildare man has been shortlisted to be on the first ever manned mission to Mars in 2025, the only Irish person on the list of potential martian explorers.
Roche made the cut of 1,058 people from 200,000 applicants, and it remains to be seen how further cuts will operate, but the man behind the Mars mission, Bas Lansdorp, hopes to make part of the money to fund the expedition out of television and sponsorship deals, with 'Mars One' becoming a reality show á la Big Brother with the public voting on who gets to make the journey to Mars. Because that's how astronauts should be chosen.
If Roche makes it onto the four man team though, there's no coming back as it's a one way trip to the red planet, and he'll have to live out the rest of his days on the new frontier. For now, he'll undergo rigorous tests, including simulations of life on Mars and coping with isolation. As long as he remembers to pack a tricolour to plant on the red soil soil, all will be well. It'd be a long time before we get another chance at putting our mark on a planet.
