76-year-old Valentina Tereshkova has applied for the Mars One mission to colonize the red plant in 2023.
Tereshkova in 1963
Sovfoto/UIG via Getty Images
Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, who became the first woman in space after orbiting Earth for three days in 1963, has applied for a one-way ticket to Mars.
"It's a dream to go to Mars," Tereshkova told the Guardian. "I want to find out whether there was life there or not. And if there was, then why did it die out? What sort of catastrophe happened?"
Tereshkova will be 86-year-old when the mission launches in 2023, and if chosen, she will spend the next seven years training.
"I am ready," she says.
