This week on Aspiring Martians, Joe talks with Josh Richards — a physicist, former Australian Army and UK Royal Marine commando, cave diver, writer, and one of the most visible Mars One finalists.
Josh’s background is extraordinary: growing up in a military family, serving in multiple branches of the armed forces, and even turning to comedy as a way of processing the scars of service. In our conversation, he shares candidly about his PTSD, why he walked away from the military, and how he found healing through comedy, storytelling, exploration, and a vision of humanity among the stars.
We cover everything from what it was like to grow up thinking space was out of reach for an Australian kid, to how a single song in a London flat reignited his childhood dream, to the philosophy that drives him to keep exploring — whether that’s signing up for Mars or crawling through flooded caves in South Australia.
This is a conversation about space, yes — but more than that, it’s about resilience, visibility, and what it means to keep moving forward after hardship.
A huge thank you to Josh Richards for joining me today and sharing his energy and perspective, to Nick Thorburn for our stellar theme music, to Ceci Giglio for the beautiful graphics, to RDan, Leila, Inka, and Carl for admining the Facebook Group, and to my family for always supporting this journey—even when the dinner table turns into a Mars trivia contest.
For more information on the Soggy Wombats, check out their YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@soggywombat
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