Solar system outsider Mercury is next on NASA's hit-list for early colonization it has been announced today.

'It's a wonderful planet, a pretty place with seas, mountains and coloured gases', said a NASA spokesperson Frank Tenderville, 'it will take a while to get there but I reckon it'll be a great place to live.'

Preparations are well underway with NASA setting up a test habitat in Edinburgh. 'Edinburgh has the closest conditions on Earth to Mercury', explained Tenderville, 'without that kind of test environment we'd have to build something under the sea to create the exact same conditions.'

Earmarked for the initial mission are three NASA Astronauts, two Russian Cosmonauts, one Chinese Spacenaut and a few minor celebrities. 

The identity of the final three celebrities will be decided by the general public in a three year epic televised 'I'm a celebrity get me to Mercury' which will start filming at the Edinburgh facility early next month.