Santa Rosa native another step closer to Mars mission

Santa Rosa native Ben McLain is a step closer to winning a reality competition that comes with the prize of a one-way ticket to Mars.

Mars One, a Dutch nonprofit group that aims to start a human colony on the red planet within 10 years - and has plenty of skeptics - announced Monday the top 100 candidates from a worldwide pool of 200,000 applicants. McLain, 31, a Maria Carrillo graduate, is among the 33 American finalists who have survived rounds of interviews, audition tapes and essays.

An entertainer who now lives in North Hollywood, McLain said he felt that he failed the latest interview in January, and he spent the past month convincing himself that he had been cut.

“It was surreal for me,” he said of the news that he was a finalist. “I was convinced I was not moving on to the next round. When I heard the news, it was a barrel of mixed emotions.”

According to Mars One, the remaining candidates will be placed in teams of four and will be put through tests at a simulated Mars outpost in an undisclosed location. Within the next year, the organization will select the top six teams for a rigorous decadelong training program.

To raise the estimated $6 billion needed to fund the mission, Mars One plans to sell the broadcast rights to the selection and training process and stage an elaborate global reality show.

“The large cut in candidates is an important step towards finding out who has the right stuff to go to Mars,” Bas Lansdorp, co-founder of Mars One, said in a statement. “These aspiring Martians provide the world with a glimpse into who the modern-day explorers will be.”

The organization did not respond to emailed questions.

While the technology exists to get to Mars - a handful of unmanned orbiters and rovers have visited the planet - humans have not figured out how to execute a return mission. Mars One candidates are prepping for a one-way voyage.

The first four-person crew would lift off on a 210-day voyage to the planet in 2024. They would live in the apartment-sized supply modules, melt ice for water and oxygen and plant food in greenhouses. Every two years, another four pioneers would join them.

The venture has plenty of critics. A recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology study of the Mars One mission plan concluded that the first settlers on the planet would die within three months from a lack of food, water or air. Scientists and astronauts have questioned the organization’s technology and funding strategy.

Even if the venture never gets off the ground, the training aspect could prove useful in preparing the next generation of explorers for the psychological challenges posed by deep-space travel. McLain said he is happy to be among the finalists, but he is cautiously optimistic about the project’s success.

“I want to make sure this is going to happen before I devote my life to this,” he said. “It’s important to be a little bit removed. It’s important to keep one foot in reality.”

Still, as the possibility increases of becoming an astronaut-in-training and potentially leaving Earth for good, McLain said he has done some hard thinking about the decision. Most of his family still lives in Santa Rosa, and McLain has no children of his own. He spends most of his time touring with his musical comedy duo, Dakaboom.

“It is getting harder as it gets more real,” he said. “I love what I do. I love the people in my life. As the prospect of leaving them gets more real, the emotions get more real. It’s tough.”

He said he is motivated by the prospect of adventure and the potential to help humanity by exploring and settling another planet. And he is willing to live out the rest of his life on Mars.

“When I first heard about (the project), I thought it sounded like a trip to Miami,” he said. “The more I read about it, the more reality sets in: ‘Oh, this is for the rest of your life.’ Right now, it is my dream and I’m willing to give my life for it. If I couldn’t say that, I shouldn’t be going.”

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Brown at 521-5206 or matt.brown@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MattBrownPD.