Halt…before we go any further let’s lay down some of the back story here.

In 2013 a Dutch group called Mars One invited anyone to apply for a trip to Mars. The catch? One way, no return. All you needed to apply was $38 and a death wish. Not only would you be zoomed off to the Red Planet but you would also star in a reality TV show about the training program.

As you can imagine the applications poured in from around the globe and the selection process began, whittling out the crazies from the marginally less crazies. There are now 100 remaining candidates, 24 of whom will make the final cut and head to Mars.

One of the candidates is 28-year-old Los Angeles native Andrew Tunks. Vice interviewed him recently and below are some of the tastier excerpts:

[Tunks] entered the contest on a kind of whim, to see how far he could get, though he also thought that the idea of a multinational crew of colonists landing on Mars could “really bring people together.

…[Tunks talking now] the people who are driven to be the stereotypical astronaut who’s super fit, super the-best-at-everything, super smart—tend to be kind of assholes…you want people who are good at getting along with other people.

[in response to what makes him a good candidate] I just think I’m a really kind person—I think that’s important. I think I have an artistic sense and a sense of beauty and reflection. I meditate quite a lot and think I’m very peaceful [side note – will they allow them to grow their own astroturf for smoking purposes?]

As much as I love my parents and thank them for everything they’ve done for me, it’s my life. It is a sacrifice though and I would be really heartbroken to leave everything.

I think you’re afraid of death when you don’t think that you can be happy until you achieve a certain thing.

Life is kinda shitty a lot of the time. Life is suffering. Everything about being alive is really challenging. If it’s not one thing, it’s something else—so yeah it might be really tough on Mars, but it’s still just life. I think it would be nicer to be on Mars than in Somalia or Syria right now.

I suppose he has a point there. Mars cannot be much worse than living in Syria, Somalia or Jozi at the moment.

Read the full interview with the possible Mars man HERE.

[source:vice]