A COMPANY representing billionaire internet tycoon Mark Shuttleworth on Friday brushed aside comments that he would not be the first African in space.
Recent reports in the media have suggested that the title belongs to Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Baudry, a French citizen who was born in Douala, Cameroon on March 6, 1946.
”Mark is the first person who is going up under an African flag as an African citizen and having grown up in Africa we feel well qualified that he is the first African in space,” a representative from Interactive Africa said.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration website — www.nasa.gov — says Baudry, was part of the crew on board the US shuttle Discovery in 1985.
It says Baudry became an astronaut in June 1980 and trained for two years at the French Space Agency and at Star City. He was a member of the back-up crew of the French-Soviet mission and was trained for scientific experiments in the fields of physiology, biology, materials processing in space and astronomy.
Shuttleworth (28) who will be the second tourist in space, will be one of three cosmonauts launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station (ISS), where he will spend eight days. – Sapa