Mark Shuttleworth: Remembering the First South African to Go to Space

• In 2002, South African tech entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth paid $20 million to travel to space
• Shuttleworth created a digital certificate internet business while studying in Cape Town and sold it for over $570 million
• We look back at the remarkable achievement the South African made 20 years ago

Mark Shuttleworth became the first South African to go to space in 2002.

The South African billionaire made his money after selling his tech company to US company Verisign for $575 million, reports Techrepublic.com.

Shuttleworth was a space tourist before the term became popularised by British billionaire Richard Branson, SpaceX's Elon Musk and Amazon's Jeff Bezos.

Along with SpaceAdventures, he launched into space in April 2002 and spent 10 days in space. He collected data that was used by scientists at the University of Stellenbosch and University of Cape Town.

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Elon Musk Says Almost Anyone Can Afford a R1.5 Million Ticket to Mars, Mzansi Says He’s Oblivious to Reality

Briefly News reported that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said that he believes almost anyone can afford a ticket to Mars, estimated at $100,000 (roughly R1.5 million).

SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corp) is an American aerospace manufacturer, a provider of space transportation services, and a communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. Reports indicate that the company SpaceX plans to build a self-sustaining city on the red planet in the coming decades.

During a recent interview with the head of TED conferences, Chris Anderson, Musk was asked about the price of a journey.

According to Business Insider South Africa, Musk said the price point would be determined partly by economics but also a need to make Mars travel affordable enough to attract around a million of the kinds of people needed to build a city on Mars.

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JOE reported that Musk described various ways people could raise funds, such as selling homes, being sponsored by the government or even taking out a loan.

South Africans did not hesitate to share their views and opinions on Musk’s predictions, with many saying he was oblivious to the “making ends meet reality” faced by many individuals.

Source: Briefly News