All my life, from my earliest memories, I have wanted to go to space. The space race of the 1960s between the USA and the USSR, together with a liberal helping of science fiction, was my childhood inspiration. My dream took me to university and beyond, to the role of experimental space physicist, which at least enabled me to work in a space-related field. There was no British manned space programme. Getting to space has been the constant desire of my life, and I have reached for any opportunity, however remote. There is now a plan to send a thousand starships to Mars, starting in the near future. Each one will carry a hundred people or so, and I will try to be one of them.