Mark Shuttleworth
Mark Shuttleworth (born September 18 1973 in Welkom, Free State) is a South African entrepreneur. He also was the first African in space, as well as the second space tourist.Mark Shuttleworth studied Finance and Information Systems at the University of Cape Town. In 1995 he founded Thawte, specializing in internet security. He sold Thawte in 1999 to VeriSign. Shuttleworth then formed HBD, a venture-capital company, and the Shuttleworth Foundation, which funds educational projects in South Africa.
On April 25, 2002 he started with the Russian Soyuz TM-34, traveling as space tourist for approximately 20 million US$. Two days later the Soyuz spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station, where he spent 8 days, participating in experiments related to aids and genome research. On May 5 he returned to earth. For the flight he had to prepare for one year, including seven months which he spent in Star City, Moscow.
Mark Shuttleworth currently (2004) lives in London.
See also: List of astronauts by name