Mars One Applicant Wants To Have A Baby In Space, Maggie Duckworth Says Child Will Be In The Name Of Science

Expectant mothers have a choice of where they want to deliver. Some choose home births, some choose hospitals, but St. Louis native Maggie Duckworth is choosing space.

Duckworth is one of the 100,000 applicants who applied for Mars One, a Netherlands-based organization that aims to establish permanent life on Mars by 2023. The 28-year-old electrical engineer recently said in an interview with the Huffington Post that having children on the red planet isn't out of the question if she secures the chance to win an outer space lifestyle.

Although the applicant said she never had a desire to bear children, she admitted she would want to do so in space, all in the name of science. “I've never been particularly interested in having children here on Earth, so I wouldn't exactly be gung-ho about having one on Mars," said Duckworth. “I suppose if it came down to it and I had to do it for science, I could be convinced.”

According to CNN, those chosen for the experiment -- which will eventually be whittled down to several groups of four “normal, well-adjusted people” -- will not be permitted to return to Earth. Duckworth, one of several applicants interviewed, said she is still interested in participating in the program. She described the organization’s goal a “stepping stone in human galactic expansion.”

"We never would have discovered America if people hadn't been risking themselves theoretically falling off the edge of the Earth," Duckworth said. "I'd like to get out there and maybe fall off the edge of Mars and see something new."

Duckworth was the 6,541 most popular applicant on Mars One’s official website as of Tuesday morning, earning her a rating of 4.315. According to her bio, she has always considered outer space home. “Raised on a farm in the heart of the U.S., my first word was ‘home’ while pointing up at the stars,” Duckworth said. “This trip to Mars will be breaking the mold every day. I can’t imagine anything more exciting."