Croat Shortlisted for Trip to Mars

28-year-old Marko Lukić could become the first Croat to visit Mars after he was selected on Monday in the final 100 of the Mars One project which will see a number of people make the 7-month, 56 million kilometre journey from Earth to Mars in 2025…

More than 200,000 candidates, including a handful of Croats, had signed up for a one-way ticket to Mars when Mars One opened up its astronaut candidate search, and Lukić is the only remaining Croat in its class of 100 after going through personal online interviews with Dr Norbert Kraft, Mars One’s chief medical officer.

There are 50 men and 50 women in the final pool, with thirty-nine candidates come from North America, 31 from Europe, 16 from Asia, seven from Africa and seven from Oceania.

Lukić and the remaining ninety-nine candidates will now be put into groups of four, where their survival skills will be measured in testing environments.

“Being one of the best individual candidates does not automatically make you the greatest team player, so I look forward to seeing how the candidates progress and work together in the upcoming challenges,” said Dr. Kraft.