First Manned Mission to Mars in 2018- Anyone Interested?

Following announcements by the Paragon Space Development Corp about their plans to send a manned mission to The Red Planet, Mars, they have been literally flooded with applications from all over the globe.

Manned Flight to The Red Planet by January 2018

Paragon, which plans to go ahead with the manned mission by 2018, has joined hands with the Inspiration Mars Foundation for the purpose.
As soon as they announced that the mission will involve two people and hinted at the possibility of throwing aboard a married couple, they have been receiving tons of applications on a daily basis by enthusiasts who seem to be oblivious of the challenges that a 501 day mission might involve.

Among the other dangers that are part and parcel of any extra terrestrial flight, the people aboard also face the following ordeals:

• Staying in a cramped cubicle tied up to a rope (because of lack of gravity) which is perhaps smaller than the size of your wash room!
• Breathing recycled air for the duration of the journey. Imagine being stuck up in a tiny spacecraft for almost one year six months!! Any claustrophobics would better steer clear of it.
• Eating dehydrated food, and
• Drinking recycled urine. How much water can you possibly carry aboard? That is a part of the package- goes without saying!
• Besides, you will be devoid of any live contact with any other living creature except your partner aboard!! That sounds depressing to me already..:(  If you are a person with an outgoing personality and love to be surrounded by friends, you might not enjoy that long forced solitude.

However, people seem to be unfazed by these challenges and are enthralled of manning a flight to the neighboring planet, as reported by Jane Poynter, the President of Paragon Inc.
Though she admits that the long flight is no child’s play, she is quick to add that the challenges are not insurmountable either.
On its part, the project partners have made it clear that they have no intentions whatsoever of allowing the people aboard to land on the surface of Mars. All that the inmates will actually be allowed is a small and easy flight around it, much like Yuri Gagarin’s maiden space voyage was.
The enterprising partners hope to be able to choose a rocket and a space capsule from among the various models available in the market to modify it and make it safe for carrying two people to-and-fro Mars in 501 days in another five years from now.
Any takers for that?

Conclusion

While the maiden manned mission to Mars might sound like a lot of fun and one of the best ways to immortalize yourself by being aboard the first flight, you need to know that it is not as much fun or give you as much of an adrenaline rush as probably bungee jumping or skydiving would!
All those crazy party hoppers who are thinking that it is going to be lots of fun, do give it a second thought!!