Five British candidates have made it onto the shortlist for a privately-funded one-way mission to the planet Mars.
The Britons make up five percent of the shortlist for the controversial Mars One Project, from more than 200,000 applicants.
The shortlist is made up of 50 men and 50 women from around the world, including 39 from the Americas, 31 from Europe, 16 from Asia, seven from Africa and seven from Oceania.
Co-founder of Mars One, Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, said:
“The large cut in candidates is an important step towards finding out who has the right stuff to go to Mars. These aspiring Martians provide the world with a glimpse into who the modern day explorers will be.”
The mission, which will be filmed for a reality television project and will cost nearly £4bn, is to create a permanent settlement set up on the Red Planet by 2024.
The project is still looking for funding for the mission, and researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently said that they expected the crew to survive just 68 days.
British candidates for Mars One
Dr Maggie Lieu, 24, a PhD in astrophysics at the University of Birmingham
Ryan MacDonald, 21, from Derby, a Masters student in physics at Oxford University
Alison Rigby, 35, a science laboratory technician, from Beckenham, Kent
Clare Weedon, 27, a systems integration manager for Virgin Media, from Addlestone, in Surrey
Hannah Earnshaw, 23, a PHD student in astronomy, from Durham