An undated artist's concept of Comet Siding Spring approaching Mars, shown with NASA's orbiters preparing to make science observations of this unique encounter, is seen in a NASA handout.
An undated artist's concept of Comet Siding Spring approaching Mars, shown with NASA's orbiters preparing to make science observations of this unique encounter, is seen in a NASA handout. The comet that sailed by Mars last month spawned thousands of shooting stars per hour and created a new layer of ionized metals high in the planet's atmosphere, NASA scientists said on Friday. REUTERS/ NASA/JPL/Handout via

Anastasia has some great plans for relocation from Moscow. She wants to resettle in Mars, the Red Planet.

Scientists behind the Mars One mission want to set up a human colony on Mars by 2025. Obviously, this is a 'great leap' for mankind, but then those who make the leap will not land back on earth again. For the first time, people will leave this world and enter another, but there will be no looking back, according to rtnews.com.

The Mars One mission is a "one-way ticket" to Mars that is scheduled for 2023, when the first group of men and women will land there. They will collect data, plant oxygen-producing vegetation and set the foundation for human colonization.In spite of the hazards, more than 200,000 people from around the world applied when the Netherlands-based NGO called for volunteers to join the mission. The number of applicants was reduced to 705. After "rigorous, potentially televised competitions" are put up, it will bring down that number to a count of 24. Anastasia, from Moscow, made it to the shortlist.

Earlier this year, Igor Mitrofanov of the Space Research Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences told the Voice of Russia that the largest risk comes from a "very big radiation doze which will be accumulated during this trip," according to marsdaily.com. Calling it a "suicidal mission," many people doubt that the volunteers for this trip know enough science and technology to take the risk.

The group had promised on its site that in 1,000 years, everyone on Earth will remember who the first humans on Mars were. It is doubtful whether the group will fulfill its promise after a millennium. But that longing for being among the first ever humans in Mars has killed the fear of dying hundreds of millions of kilometers away. Anastasia Stepanova wants to be one of those who will write that "new chapter in human history." Her sister Evgenia called her "nuts in a good way".

The huge line of applicants shows that so many people "can't wait to leave the planet." But, Anastasia's mother does not want to let her go. Her father, who once wanted to be a cosmonaut like many Soviet children, supports her dream. Currently, she is a PR manager in Moscow. However, she wants to escape from the earth due to an "existential loneliness."

She said that she always felt empty, as if she was waiting all the time for something real to begin. As it grew worse each year, she wondered whether her whole life was going to continue to make her feel so. Like all young people she continuously tried to escape her despair by partying and surrounding herself with luxurious, modern comforts, "to save me from myself," as she put it.

But just listening to the idea of the Mars One project excited her enough to want to contribute. She said that she felt much better, as if she was losing her apathy. "I thought, 'Anastasia, you dummy, that's what you needed!'" she says.

All the time, she keeps imaging her life on Mars with the other volunteers who are prepared to go. They may be happy or scared there. She would be on a "dark, alien planet," should she proceed further, she knows. However, while the thought of the planet frightens her, she is more afraid of other crew members losing their mental stability and going crazy. She may be left alone, if everyone else dies, she fears. However, as her father put it, we are all born with "a one-way ticket."

Source: YouTube/RT