Italy ... or To Infinity and Beyond?

Of course, I still plan to go to Italy, no question... erm, unless... did I mention before that I quite like Science Fiction? Like Star Trek, Enterprise, Babylon 5, Farscape, Firefly and the like?

And now how about my own piece of being involved in the race to space?

A few days ago my eye caught an article in "Metro":

Wanted: Volunteers for space's most boring job

Under a picture of a red barren landscape the article continued:

Space: The final frontier. But, if boldly going to the stars is less appealing to you than keeping your feet firmly on the ground, there is still a way you could help the space race.

Outgoing and gregarious people need not apply, say agency staff, who warn applicants will suffer severe boredom.
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=53794&in_page_id=34

Mmh, intriguing, you think. Well, so did I.

Ah, intriguing is not what you were thinking? More along the lines of ...

Anyway, so, thanks to the modern invention of internet, more information was easy to get. And where better than at the source, the European Space Agency: http://www.esa.int/esaCP/index.html

And low and behold, the story is true. Mission to Mars. Or rather Mars500 Project.
http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEMAJPXXV2F_index_0.html

Sounds like a movie.

And they ARE looking for candidates. And quess what, for once I fit the age bracket - candidates between 25-50! Yay!

What else? Good health, serious, motivated - well if that doesn't sound like me.

And as for the simulation:

The daily routine will be similar to the schedule of crews in orbital flights (7 day week with two days off) and will consist of 8 hours of work, 8 hours of leisure time and 8 hours of sleep per day. In addition all crewmembers will operate on night-shifts for one week each, in rotation.
• During work time the crew will conduct scientific experiments, perform physical exercise (1hour per day), as well as tasks related to maintenance of the facility, life support system control and maintenance, skill maintenance and learning, sanitary and hygienic procedures, etc.
• The scientific experiments may involve invasive medical procedures, for example blood draws, urine and saliva samples, for which the crewmembers will be test subjects.
In addition to the daily routine, off-nominal and emergency situations will be simulated, for example sickness or failures of on-board systems and equipment.

http://spaceflight.esa.int/users/downloads/ao2007/Mars500%20Call%20for%20Candidates.pdf

Well, that doesn't sound so boring, not boring at all.

Ok, I know, whom am I kidding, what is the chance of me actually really being selected for this?

Yes, I may hit the age bracket, I may speak English, be in not too bad shape, being available for 2 years, come from Europe, the one big obstacle is the job specification:

Background and work experience in one of the following fields: medicine, biology, life support systems engineering, computer engineering, electronic engineering, mechanical engineering

And there are a few more reasons that may speak agains it - and thanks, Elena, to pointing them all out to me: smoking (I can give up), working knowledge of Russian (yea, right, how many Westeners working in the jobs they are lookig for will have?), being locked up in a bunker in Moscow (yea, ok, sounds more like Prison), coping with stress (yea, you are saying?) - but....

But s/he who does not dream, how boring a life. And equally, who does not dare sometimes and try, never wins.

So, yes, call me stupid (but not to my face if you please) but I have filled in the application

And now, realistically, I can wait for the rejection, if they even send them out, but until then, I am there with Buzz Lightyear: "To Infinity and Beyond"... or even Captain Kirk: "Where noone has gone before..."