…One of the keys to a colony’s success will be to make sure everyone knows how to do each job. To that end, Mars One training will focus on learning skills. Some of the applicants are doctors and scientists. But one is a beekeeper. Another is a dishwasher. Many of the applicants don’t have college degrees. But they have all proved they can learn.

“They have to be specialists in all the areas,” said Kraft. “It doesn’t help me if one’s a medical doctor and someday gets sick and nobody can help anybody anymore.” That’s one of the reasons a return trip isn’t part of the ticket. They’ll train together for 10 years. But if, once they get on Mars, one person wants to come home, that entire team unit will fall apart—compromising the entire colony.

The idea that everyone should know how to do everything reflects the current expectations for astronauts staying aboard the ISS. There are specialists, of course, but everyone needs to know how to run all of the different modules. “Only one astronaut cannot operate the system,” said Koji Yanagawa, a member of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency who has spent 10 years working on astronaut selection. “A group of astronauts have to participate.”