Highlands Ranch Man Among Mission To Mars Finalists

HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (CBS4)- A group of people from around the world, including one man from Colorado, is a big step closer to getting a one-way ticket to Mars.

Mars One is a non-profit group working to establish the first human habitat on the red planet by 2024. Now it's cutting down its list of potential space travelers.

Ethan Dederick, from Highlands Ranch, is an astrophysics at New Mexico State University.

"I want my impact to be great, but overall positive," said Dederick.

He's among 33 Americans who have applied for a trip to the red planet and he's still a candidate.

"If I'm the first person to set foot on Mars, 1,000 years from now, when we're a multi-planet species because I've inspired us to become so, everyone will know who I was," said another applicant, Leila Zucker.

Zucker, 46, is an emergency room doctor at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

The contenders are selected from all over the world. They're already getting to know each other, preparing for up to an eight month journey through space and potentially the rest of their lives in very close quarters.

Before anyone steps on Mars, the project has to clear some major hurdles including physical and technical training for the final group of amateur astronauts. They also need to raise an estimated $6 billion to fund the first four travelers to a plant some 200 million miles away.

To pay for the project, Mars One plans to broadcast the entire process on a reality TV show staring as early as this fall.