Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu

Mark Richard Shuttleworth (born 18 September 1973) is a South African entrepreneur. Shuttleworth was born in Welkom, Free State, South Africa. As an early space tourist, he was the first African national in space.^[1] He currently lives in London and due to being Anglo-African holds dual citizenship of South Africa and Britain.

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, Moscow. [more...]

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