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Mark Richard SHUTTLEWORTH
Space flight participant, Republic of South Africa
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: born on September 18, 1973 in
gold-mining town of Welkom in South Africa, and grew up
in Cape Town where his parents moved afterwards.
His farther is Richard Dalton Shuttleworth, a surgeon.
His mother is Ronelle Shuttleworth. They live in the northern
suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa.
He is a citizen of Republic of South Africa and Great Britain.
He lived in South Africa from his birth till February 2001,
and then moved to London.
EDUCATION: graduated from high school in 1991, and in
1995 from University of Cape Town, where he received a Bachelors
degree in business finance and information systems. A specialist
in software and networking technologies.
FAMILY STATUS: unmarried.
AWARDS AND RANKS: Academic award for completion of training
at Reese Air Base, Texas. Honorary student of the Test Pilot
School in Patuxent River, Maryland. Honorary student of
the US Flight Safety School, Kirtland Air Force Base, New
Mexico. Long Service medal from Italian Air Force (1997).
HOBBIES: travel, technology, Internet.
WORK EXPERIENCE: Mark developed a profound interest in
science in his early youth. His scientific interests include
software development, digital media technologies, biotechnology
and particle physics. While studying finance at the University
of Cape Town he first encountered the Internet and quickly
realized the significance of the changes the global network
might bring in business and society.
In December 1995 he founded Thawte Consulting as an Internet
consulting business. The focus of the company quickly shifted
to Internet security for electronic commerce. Thawte became
the first company to produce a full-security e-commerce
web server that was commercially available outside the United
States. Thawte worked on the public key infrastructure,
which is the basis for all encripted and authenticated Internet
transactions. By February 2000, when Thawte Consulting was
acquired by VeriSign in USA, Thawte had become the fastest-growing
Internet Certificate Authority, and was the leading Certificate
Authority outside of the US.
In September 2000 he formed a new company called HBD. This
is a venture-capital company seeking to invest in innovative
technology companies that are based in South Africa but
that have the potential to serve a global marketplace.
In October 2000 he created a non-profit organization The
Shuttleworth Foundation that supports innovation in education.
The Shuttleworth Foundation funds projects that contribute
to improving the quality and accessibility of education
in Africa, and unlocking the creative potential of every
child in Africa.
Mark also funds and contributes to an international non-profit
organization Bridges.org that seeks to help people in developing
countries use information and communications technology
to improve their lives, strengthen democratic institutions
and the freedom of press.
His fascination with new technology brought Mark to Star
City, Russia. He passed a medical checkup and was cleared
for space flight training. Since July 2001 he has been training
for space flight as a space flight participant within the
main crew of Soyuz TM transportation vehicle for the third
visiting mission to ISS.
April 2002.
Based on materials from Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center
and web site www.africaninspace.com
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