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Mark ShattlvortThe second space tourist, the first African citizen in space.
Date of Birth: 18.09.1973
Country:  South Africa |
Content:
- Mark Shuttleworth: Space Tourist and Tech Entrepreneur
- Background and Education
- Thawte and HBD Venture Capital
- First African in Space
- Open Source Contributions
- Shuttleworth Foundation and Ubuntu Foundation
- Recognition
Mark Shuttleworth: Space Tourist and Tech Entrepreneur
Mark Richard Shuttleworth (born 18 September 1973) is a South African-born British entrepreneur and second space tourist.
Background and Education
Shuttleworth was born in Welkom, South Africa, and attended Diocesan College in Cape Town. He earned a Bachelor of Science in economics and finance from the University of Cape Town.
Thawte and HBD Venture Capital
In 1995, Shuttleworth founded Thawte, a digital certificate and Internet security company. He sold Thawte to VeriSign in 1999 for approximately $575 million. In 2000, he established HBD Venture Capital, providing seed funding to start-up companies.
First African in Space
On 25 April 2002, Shuttleworth became the first African to visit space. He paid $20 million to travel to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz TM-34 spacecraft.
Open Source Contributions
Shuttleworth was involved in the development of the Debian distribution of the GNU/Linux operating system in the 1990s. In 2004, he returned to the GNU/Linux world and funded the development of Ubuntu, a user-friendly distribution.
Shuttleworth Foundation and Ubuntu Foundation
In 2001, Shuttleworth founded the Shuttleworth Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting social innovation and open source software development in South Africa. In 2005, he created the Ubuntu Foundation with an endowment of $10 million to ensure the sustainability of the Ubuntu project.
Recognition
On 15 October 2006, Shuttleworth was named a patron of the KDE project in recognition of his significant financial support. He holds South African and British citizenship and currently resides in London, United Kingdom.
