Meet The 24-Year-Old Astrophysics Student With A Chance To Live – And Die – On Mars

From 202,586 hopefuls, to the 100 would-be astronauts. A 24-year-old astrophysics students at Birmingham University was today named on the shortlist of candidates selected to set up the first human colony on Mars – on a one-way mission that, if successful, would represent one of the most audacious achievements in human history.

“I found out at 6am that I’d made the final 100,” Maggie Lieu told The Independent from her home in Coventry, shortly after receiving the phone call that could change her life forever.

Along with 50 men and 49 other women, she has been selected to spend the next decade learning everything she needs to know to live on the Red Planet as part of the Mars One project.