Space flight

[Oldboy913]

One way manned missions to space
Has any space agency considered this option?
There would be no shortage of volunteers.

[jake-the-peg]

I think that would require the technology for a self sustaining "biosphere".

The last time this was tried in the Arizona desert ended in failure as the carbon dioxide levels reached too high a level and the spheres needed to have fresh oxygen pumped in from the outside world.

But beside the technology the costs would be gigantic and I'm not sure exactly what this project would achieve

[squarebear]

"...There would be no shortage of volunteers."

Like who?

[kwicky]

Wasn't Apollo 13 a one way mission? After takeoff they had problems with the spacecraft and although designed to touch dowb on the moon they just did an orbit of it to swung the rocket in the opposite direction to Earth.

[squarebear]

If it was a one way mission, then they certainly didn't tell the astronauts that!

[dundurn]

If by "one way" you mean with the deliberate aim of not returning to Earth, then the answer is no. Ark-type spaceships are a long way in the future and to be frank, the political will to mount an expedition of his kind just doesn't exist. Any mission with a timescale longer than 8 years isn't going to get any American President enthusiastic. Kennedy's announcement that Apollo would put a man on the moon "before this decade is out" was at least partly based on the idea that he might still be President when it happened.
I'm with squarebear on the question of volunteers for the crew - I think anyone putting their name forward almost certainly has too many mental problems to be on board.
On the other hand if you're asking me to volunteer other people to take part, then "I've got a little list"!