TECHNOLOGY: First African to Fly into Space

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Anthony Stoppard

JOHANNESBURG, Apr 15 2002 (IPS) - Even though it is a privately funded, the flight by South African millionaire, Mark Shuttleworth, to the International Space Station (ISS) on a Russian Soyuz craft is being billed as the first African in Space Project.

Shuttleworth, who is scheduled to blast of on Apr 25, will be the first citizen of an African country to fly into space. He is paying around 20 million U.S. dollars for his place on the 10-day Russian mission.

“Space flight is the ultimate expression of our willingness to explore new frontiers in engineering and science. I’ve always been fascinated by science and technology, and the opportunity to participate in the crew mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is the realisation of a lifelong dream for me,” he says.

“At the same time, it’s a good opportunity to put science and technology into the forefront of public imagination in South Africa,” Shutteworth says, explaining his decision to sign-up for the flight.

On the price tag for the flight, he comments: “It’s a lot less than most countries would pay to have an astronaut in training and sent on a flight assignment. We negotiated the best price for the package.”

Shuttleworth will be the second civilian to be taken into space by the Russians, who are using the money from the tourists to help fund, their space programme.

The first was U.S. businessperson, Dennis Tito, who was successfully taken to the ISS despite some objections from the U.S. National Space and Aeronautics Administration (NASA) – which, is one of the main builders of the space station.

After training at the Russian space base, Star City, outside of Moscow for several weeks, Shuttleworth and two other astronauts have passed their final examinations, and are cleared for the space flight.

Besides Shuttleworth, the crew consists of a Russian cosmonaut and fighter pilot, Commander Yuri Gidzenko, and an Italian astronaut and test pilot, Roberto Vittori.

Shuttleworth is planning to conduct a number of scientific experiments — designed by South African scientists – during his trip into space. According to his website, these will include the first experiment in the world to assess the impact of zero gravity on the development of stem cells and embryos.

Another is to determine the effect of micro-gravity on the cardiovascular system and muscles. A third is to attempt to crystallise HIV – the virus that causes AIDS – proteins in weightlessness in the hopes that, when X-rayed, they will give an accurate view of the virus structure.

South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV and AIDS in the world.

South African scientists, from the Universities of Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Port Elizabeth, in collaboration with Russian space-science experts, are managing these experiments.

On the ground, the First African in Space project is using the trip as a springboard for an education outreach programme, which aims to encourage school learners to take an interest in mathematics and science.

The project has launched an extensive print and broadcast advertisement campaign in South Africa highlighting Shuttleworth’s trip and promoting science and mathematics as “hip” school subjects.

He also will be speaking to South African school pupils from the ISS over a “ham” radio.

Shuttleworth describes himself as an African entrepreneur with a deep interest in technology. He made his fortune when he sold his internet technology company for close to 600 million U.S. dollars in 1999.

Although he lives in London, he funds a venture-capital company based in South Africa, ‘Here Be Dragons’ (HBD) and ‘The Shuttleworth Foundation’ (TSF), a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving the quality of education in Africa.

He also serves on South African President, Thabo Mbeki’s advisory board on developing the information technology industry in South Africa.

Shuttleworth also funds and serves on the board of Bridges — an international non-profit organisation that seeks to address the information and communications gap – or digital divide — between the advanced economies and developing countries.

He attends a number of international conferences on the digital divide and travels to African countries “so that I can be more qualified as a representative of Africa at global initiatives”.

Shuttleworth says he has a mission to change negative perceptions about South Africa and the African continent.

Because of his apparent commitment to Africa, Shuttleworth came in for some criticism when he decided to move to London. He says he was forced to move after the South African Reserve Bank refused him permission to move some of his funds out of the country.

Shuttleworth’s mission can be tracked on www.firstafricaninspace.com.