Husband admits he's 'ready' to send mother of his children to Mars on one-way ticket

Husband and wife: Sonia and Jason are happily married, but in a decade, she will be preparing to leave him - and Earth - forever

A man whose wife is set to be one of the first sent to Mars on a one-way ticket has said he's finally ready for her to go.
Jason Stanford's wife Sonia Van Meter volunteered to be part of the controversial Mars One mission which plans to launch its first group in 2026.

But the privately-funded mission, which is intended to start a colony on the Red Planet, only goes one way, which means Jason and his two stepsons will be saying farewell to Sonia in just 11 years.
Jason, who lives in Alexandria, Virginia, says that he's an "astronaut wife", and that he and his sons Henry, 13, and Hatcher, 11, have accepted Sonia's departure and are excited for her to go.

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Family values: Sonia has been criticised for 'abandoning' her husband Jason and stepsons, Henry and Hatcher

In a feature for Texas Monthly, Jason wrote: "This was bigger than me. It raises existential questions far weightier than how much I’d miss Sonia and whether I remembered who our plumber was or knew where she kept all the passwords.
"What could be my personal horror story would become the world’s grandest adventure, and understanding how this might change my life forced me to realize that Mars One could change everyone’s life.
"If it succeeds in its mission - establishing a sustainable colony on another planet - it would change the history of humanity by expanding our boundaries beyond this planet."
According to Jason, Sonia has been the target of personal attacks for 'abandoning' her family which, he says, are missing the point.

Mars one

Future space: An illustration of the pods that colonists will live in on the planet

"One of the big questions that participants in the Mercury 7 mission encountered was whether the astronauts’ wives “had anything to say about this.”
"Sonia, a stepmother and wife, flipped the gender script on an archetypal story and made such inquiries irresistible. She’s been asked how she could abandon me more times than most people have been asked if they want fries with that."
For her part, Sonia has become something of a media darling thank to her enthusiasm and personality, but the mission, which plans to send four people at first then another four every two years, is still a subject of controversy from scientists and space luminaries who believe those being sent up should be astronauts.
Sonia was selected as part of the top 100 by Mars one, which says it had more than 200,000 applicants - although former NASA scientist Dr Joseph Roche claims just 3,000 applied, following his own departure from the project in March.

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The Red Planet: Mars has surface features similar to the craters of the Moon and the volcanoes, valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth

Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, who announced the project in May 2012, has backed the project from the off, although scientists state that those travelling may be exposed to dangerously high levels of radiation during the 253-day journey from Earth to Mars.
Jason's piece takes that into account, emotionally and realistically: "Imagine that you know you will be watching your spouse evolve on another planet before she dies of cancer inside of a decade. Imagine that everyone on Earth is watching with you. Now imagine that this idea no longer seems strange."
Although the world Jason and his family are looking at is unusual, he concludes, he's made his peace with it.
"It’s time to accept my role. Her name is Sonia Van Martian, and I’m the astronaut wife.
"We’re just an ordinary married couple in an extraordinary situation, and we’re taking it one small step for man at a time."