Mark Shuttleworth

Mark Richard Shuttleworth, роден на 17 септември

Mark Richard Shuttleworth (born 17 September 1973) is a South African entrepreneur, made famous for being the second space tourist and first African national in space.[1] He is currently well known in the technology community for Thawte and Ubuntu. Shuttleworth was born in Welkom, Free State, South Africa. He currently lives in London and holds dual citizenship of South Africa and the United Kingdom.

After going to school at Diocesan College, Shuttleworth obtained a Business Science degree in Finance and Information Systems at the University of Cape Town.

Shuttleworth gained worldwide fame on 25 April 2002 as a civilian cosmonaut aboard the Russian Soyuz TM-34 mission, paying approximately US$ 20 million. Two days later, the Soyuz spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station, where he spent eight days participating in experiments related to AIDS and genome research. On 5 May, he returned to Earth. In order to participate on the flight, Shuttleworth had to undergo one year of training and preparation, including seven months spent in Star City, Russia