Humans could set foot on Mars within decades if they wanted to, according to the German astronaut who has been tapped to become his country's first commander of the International Space Station.
Alexander Gerst said the space station offers a unique opportunity to test the technology needed to explore other planets, especially if its lifetime is extended beyond 2020.
"It is very clear to me that those manned missions to the moon and Mars, human missions, will happen," he told The Associated Press in an interview at the European Space Agency's astronaut training centre in Cologne, Germany.
"But we need the decision as a society. And once we do that we are ready to go, basically."
Gerst said the recent Hollywood movie The Martian - starring Matt Damon as an astronaut fending for himself on the red planet - offers a realistic glimpse of the not-too-distant future.
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"It shows us what we can possibly reach in a few years' time," he said.
"I'm actually quite excited by the fact that us humans, we could fly to Mars, and maybe you and I will live to see it."
The 40-year-old volcanologist is scheduled to take command of the space station in May 2018, four years after his first mission, it was announced on Wednesday.
Astronauts have been living continuously aboard the 400-kilometre high complex since 2000.
This month, the space station hit the milestone of 100,000 orbits around Earth - the equivalent to 10 round trips to Mars, or almost one way to Neptune.
Gerst will be the second European Space Agency astronaut in charge of the orbital outpost, after Belgian pilot Frank De Winne, reflecting Europe's growing interest in space.
